Developer Comer Homes has permission to build 1,350 homes at North London Business Park site but wanted to expand plans, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

The plans by Comer Homes for North London Business Park

Plans for a huge expansion of a housing scheme in a low-rise Barnet suburb have been formally refused.

Barnet Council’s strategic planning committee voted unanimously to refuse Comer Homes’ plans to build more than 2,400 homes at North London Business Park during a meeting on Wednesday (18th).

The developer already has permission to build 1,350 homes at the suburban Brunswick Park site but wanted to expand the scheme.

During a meeting in December, the strategic planning committee voted against town hall planning chiefs’ recommendation to approve the plans but then deferred the item to allow officers to draw up detailed reasons for refusal.

In a report presented to Wednesday’s meeting, officers wrote that the scheme would “result in a discordant and visually obtrusive form of development that would demonstrably fail to respect the local context and established pattern of development” when viewed from certain locations.

They added that this would be “to the detriment of the character and appearance of the area, and the visual amenity of adjoining residential occupiers”.

A further reason for refusal states that the proposed development does not include a formal undertaking to secure the provision of affordable housing, community and healthcare floorspace and other facilities, which runs counter to a range of planning policies.

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