Council planning officers recommended Barnet Elizabethans RFC’s clubhouse scheme for refusal over its impact on the Green Belt, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

Redevelopment plans billed as key to the survival of a Barnet rugby club hang in the balance after councillors failed to reach a final decision on the scheme.

Barnet Elizabethans Rugby Football Club wants to knock down its existing clubhouse on a Green Belt site in Byng Road, High Barnet, and build a larger, modern facility designed to help secure its long-term future.

The development would provide changing rooms, new floodlit pitches, a bigger car park and facilities for disabled people.

Barnet Council received 107 objections to the proposed redevelopment and 355 letters of support. Planning chiefs recommended the scheme for refusal, however, claiming it would harm the Green Belt, nearby oak trees and roosting bats.

On Monday (11th), a council planning committee rejected the recommendation after an hour-and-a-half’s debate. But there was confusion and disbelief when the chair then referred the scheme to another committee for further deliberation.

One committee member, Conservative Laithe Jajeh, said councillors and residents who attended Hendon Town Hall to speak on the application had wasted their time.

Earlier in the meeting, local resident Anna Robins spoke against what she dubbed an “overly ambitious” application and called for more information on how the club would minimise disturbance to neighbours caused by parties held in the clubhouse.

She also claimed the club planned to make changes to an area not included in its leasehold and put in barriers to public access.

Another resident, Chris Strat, spoke in favour, saying the club could not continue using the current “energy inefficient” facility, which is around 65 years old, and that it would “struggle to survive” if the plans were turned down.

High Barnet ward councillor Paul Edwards also lent his support to the proposal, saying the purpose of the application was to make the club “accessible to all – men and boys, women and girls, and those with disabilities”.

Planning agent Jon Bradburn told the committee that sports facilities are not not considered inappropriate under national planning policies where they “maintain the openness of the Green Belt”. He added that the current building was “not fit for purpose, hindering community benefit”.

Under questioning from councillors over the ecological impact, Jon said bat roosting takes place in summer while the floodlights are on during winter, and the new lights would have a lower impact than the current ones.

He also pledged to avoid any negative impacts on the oak trees, said the public would still have access to the site, and claimed conditions would be drawn up to minimise disturbance to residents from parties and other events.

Some committee members raised concerns over the report drawn up by planning officers. Labour’s Claire Farrier said councillors had not seen evidence to back up officers’ claims that there would be a “harmful impact” on two trees.

Under questioning from Conservative member David Longstaff, officers initially claimed the club had not carried out a bat survey. After people in the public gallery protested, they admitted that a survey had in fact been done but said proposed lighting mitigation measures were “inappropriate”.

Cllr Jajeh said he did not have any confidence in what officers were saying. Pointing out that the club had agreed to work with officers to address their concerns, Cllr Longstaff said he was “at a loss as to why, after so many months and years, there is quite a vehement refusal here”.

Following the debate, a majority of committee members voted against the recommendation to refuse permission. But officers said that under a new rule, the committee could not approve the application, and the chair could decide whether to defer it to a future meeting or to the council’s strategic planning committee.

Labour chair Tim Roberts announced he was referring the application to the council’s strategic planning committee. Cllr Longstaff said that committee would have to sit through the same debate, and officers indicated that the report would be presented to the meeting unchanged.

Cllr Jajeh said: “All these people who have come here tonight to speak on an item have absolutely wasted their time. I rushed to substitute for this meeting, thinking it was important, and it’s not. It’s absolutely pointless what we have discussed tonight.”

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