Planning & Development

Enfield's planning committee yesterday voted to defer approval of the application to demolish the Intimate Theatre to make place for a new parish centre. This represents a change of mind from November 2020, when the same committee approved an almost identical planning application.

Enfield Council leader Nesil Caliskan has approved making the Bowes low-traffic neighbourhood scheme permanent and the decision will come into effect on 12th January, subject to the outcome of a likely 'call-in' by opposition councillors. A neighbouring scheme to be trialled by Haringey Council, possibly as early as this month or next, will expand the scheme down to Bounds Green Road.

A report prepared for the leader of Enfield Council, Cllr Nesil Caliskan, recommends that she gives the go-ahead for the low-traffic neighbourhood in Bowes ward to be made permanent.

At its meeting on Tuesday evening Haringey's Cabinet approved the creation of the borough's first three low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). Work on the first to be built, Bounds Green LTN, will begin in early 2022.

Enfield Council's Healthy Streets Team are inviting residents to two community drop-in sessions and a Microsoft Teams webinar to discuss their plans for a new walking and cycling route between Enfield Town and the boundary with Broxbourne Borough adjacent to Capel Manor and the M25. Broxbourne Council is planning to continue the route further north.

Architect's Journal has a detailed article about the hitches that Transport for London (TfL) has come up against as it tries to build new housing on tube car parks. Two of the controversial projects are not far from PG - at Arnos Grove and Cockfosters. If this is an issue that interests you, well worth reading because it is unusually thorough and looks at the issues from many different angles.

The size of Saturday's well organised and well behaved march shows what was already clear - that there is substantial opposition to the Fox Lane scheme, though it proves nothing about the overall balance of opinion among residents or about whether on balance the effects of the LTN are beneficial or harmful. It's also clear that there is a widespread view that Enfield Council is not listening to people's complaints about the LTN. Instead of just saying that all comments will be taken into account, the council would do well to be more ready to acknowledge people's genuine concerns, and to engage more readily about potential ways of mitigating problems.

Enfield Council is proposing to create 'plazas' in Palmers Green and Enfield Town with the aim of providing outdoor trading opportunities for businesses, encouraging 'café culture' in the two town centres and creating a space for children to play and for community and cultural events

Transport for London's parlous financial situation, brought on by a pandemic-induced catastrophic fall off in fares revenue, not only threatens big cuts to tube and bus services . Unless an adequate long-term solution is found, in place of the grudgingly given six-month government gap-plugging deals, the outcome will be even worse congestion on the roads than we are already experiencing, and other impacts affecting not just London. Anyone interested in London's future should read this important article by the chief executive of the Centre for London thinktank.

Following further collection of traffic data during September, after the return to school, Enfield Council is inviting further objections and representations about the low-traffic neighbourhood scheme in the Fox Lane Quieter Neighbourhood. The deadline for submitting comments (by post or email) is 11th January 2022.