27 March 2016
The Pinkham Way Alliance (PWA) has published the text of its detailed submission to Haringey Council in response to the public consultation on Haringey Local Plan documents. Its representations are aimed at preventing development of open land which was once the site of the Friern Barnet Sewage Works site at Pinkham Way, adjacent to the North Circular Road and Muswell Hill Golf Course.
In its draft planning documents Haringey is designating the land both as a Site of Importance for Nature.......
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06 March 2016
Southgate District Civic Trust is delighted to announce that Freddie Gick the Chair of Civic Voice will be visiting us in March.
As the highlight of his visit, Freddie Gick will talk about the work of Civic Voice and the Civic Movement in Britain. This will be a rare chance to hear from and speak to the man who leads this important work.
Freddie Gick has been Chair of Civic Voice since 2013. He is a former research scientist and international management consultant who has been involved with.......
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21 February 2016
A national organisation representing civic societies across the UK has criticised many of the main changes which the government is proposing to make to the planning system. It is inviting members of the public who agree with its stance to respond to a government consultation exercise in a similar way.i
in its response to the ongoing public consultation, Civic Voice - "a civic movement with a strong local presence and an influential national voice" - has expressed concerns that.......
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17 February 2016
The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) is calling on Londoners to object to the government's proposals to allow more housebuilding in the Green Belt.
The CPRE these days extends its coverage to the big cities, in particular London, and even has a division called CPRE London. CPRE London recently issued an urgent call to the public to respond to the current government consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) by indicating their opposition to.......
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12 February 2016
Mike McClean has sent a final message to supporters of the Save the Green Dragon Campaign:
It's all over. Planning permission has been granted for the development of The Green Dragon site. We made our final representations at the planning hearing last night but were unsuccessful.
Many thanks to everybody who supported the campaign in any way over the past year, we did our very best and it was heartwarming to see so many people standing together to try to save our beloved pub. The final total.......
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13 January 2016
Enfield Council has published for public consultation the Draft Ritz Parade Opportunity Site Development Brief (PDF, 5MB). The deadline for commments is 5.00pm on Wednesday 10 February 2016.
The draft document aims to provide planning, design and development advice for the Ritz Parade site and will help guide future proposals. The consultation is asking the public and interested parties to consider whether the draft guidance has captured all relevant principles for achieving the.......
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07 January 2016
Two more drop-in information events have been set up to help people respond to the consultation about a new Local Plan for Enfield. Originally all events were on weekdays during working hours. The new events are on a Saturday afternoon and Tuesday evening.
For information about the local plan, see this earlier article. The deadline for submitting your views is 5pm on Friday 12th February.
Southgate District Civic Trust will be submitting a response to the consultation and.......
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31 December 2015
This article was updated on 7th January to include the two new dates for information events
Over the next 15 years Enfield's population is expected to increase by more than a fifth. A key aspect of the new Local Plan that Enfield Council has begun developing is where to locate new housing, schools, employment sites, transport infrastructure and community facilities to provide for the additional people. To help the planning process the Council is currently running a.......
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18 November 2015
Southgate District Civic Trust is hoping to enlist the support of local MP David Burrowes for a new Parliamentary grouping that will be seeking to ensure that the views of local communities are taken into account in the planning process.
The new All Party Parliamentary Group for Civic Societies has been set up in conjunction with Civic Voice, a national charity to which Southgate District Civic Trust (SDCT) is affliated. Its initial focus will be on the historic environment, in which.......
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11 November 2015
Southgate District Civic Trust (SDCT) is inviting local residents to help it pilot a new approach to local planning which aims to engage local communities in determining where new housing should be built and what form it should take.
Intended to counteract the widespread "NIMBY" attitude towards new housebuilding, the "BIMBY Housing Toolkit" (BIMBY stands for Beauty in my Backyard) is a set of interactive online instructions which guide communities through a series of workshops in which they.......
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24 September 2015
The campaigning group Enfield RoadWatch has issued a newsletter with updated information about their campaign to prevent construction on Green Belt land adjacent to Enfield Road, between Oakwood and Enfield Town (see this earlier report).
Urgent Call to Action!
Do you want developers to build homes on Green.......
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19 June 2015
Following statement appeared was posted on the Enfield Council websitewebsite and dated 17th June.
Enfield Council sets up Trent Park Mansion Working Group
The Council has set up a cross party councillor Working Group to work with the Receiver tasked with finding a buyer for the Trent Park Mansion building. The Group will be meeting the Receiver shortly to emphasise that the views of the local community should be taken into account in any development proposals that come forward in the future........
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03 June 2015
The public have until 30th June to comment on proposals to build a new waste incinerator in Edmonton, considerably larger than the current incinerator, which it would replace. The new buildings would be on the northern side of the North Circular, to the north and south of the present plant, which would then be demolished, leaving a space in between. Public exhibitions will be held in Enfield, Edmonton, Northumberland Park and Chingford.
The scheme, which would cost £500 million.......
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and forum comments
16 May 2015
After reading a couple of newspaper articles suggesting that the new Culture Secretary might wish to relax the regulations concerning Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals in betting shops, I today sent him the following open letter.
Dear Mr Burrowes,
Could I start by congratulating you on your success in last week's election.
I'm writing to you in response to recent newspaper reports which suggest that the newly appointed Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, might wish to bring in legislation.......
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and forum comments
22 March 2015
At the Enfield Council Meeting on Wednesday 25th March (7pm at the Civic Centre) councillors will be briefed on the strategy for the provision of secondary school places and will debate an opposition paper which proposes ways of reducing the cost of temporary accommodation for homeless families.
Provision of secondary school places
The executive summary of the briefing paper states that demand for secondary school places will continue to rise until 2020 followed by five years of slightly lower.......
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14 February 2015
A national charity has launched a manifesto calling on future governments to prioritise improvements to the public realm and enable local communities to play an active part in planning such improvements.
Civic Voice has as its aims making places more attractive, enjoyable and distinctive and promoting civic pride. Its manifesto, Localism for Real, was launched this week at a Parliamentary meeting.
Southgate District Civic Trust, who are affiliated to Civic Voice and contributed to.......
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13 February 2015
Enfield Council is consulting residents, as well as "anybody with an interest in Enfield", about proposed changes to the Statement of Community Involvement. This document, which was originally issued in 2006, "seeks to ensure the active, meaningful and continued involvement of local communities and stakeholders in planning". It sets out how, when and who will be consulted throughout the preparation of Local Plan and other statutory planning documents prepared by the Council, and in.......
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24 January 2015
The owners of Palmers Green bus garage, Arriva London ("a DB Company" - ie owned by the German state railways), have applied for planning permission to demolish two buildings next to the garage (to its east) and use the land as an open-air bus park. However, there are no plans to expand the number of buses which are housed at the garage - the maximum number will remain at 69. This number of buses is in fact rather too many for the size of the building, meaning that manoeuvring of buses.......
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06 December 2014
The application for outline planning permission to redevelop Chase Farm Hospital is available on the Enfield Council website (click on this link). Members of the public are able to submit comments up until 15th January.
The application seeks approval for the principle of the development, the amount of development, the maximum three-dimensional extent of development and access arrangements. If approved, these would form the parameters upon which future reserved matters applications would be.......
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07 November 2014
Southgate District Civic Trust has begun compiling a list of "community assets" within its area of coverage, which includes Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill and is asking for suggestions for additions to its list.
The concept of "Assets of Community Value" was introduced by the Localism Act 2011. According to the Civic Voice website,
A building or land in your council’s area must be listed as an asset of community value if:
current primary use of the building/land or use of.......
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