The decision comes despite the development being opposed by Barnet Council’s deputy leader, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Controversial plans for a new twelve-storey, 238-room hotel in Finchley town centre have been approved.

The building, which is planned for 1-4 Shakespeare Road, will replace a Bright Horizons nursery, a commercial building used by a religious organisation, and two semi-detached homes.

A strategic planning committee meeting yesterday (Thursday 4th) heard that the plan would “lift” the area and help deal with antisocial behaviour.

But an objection was also made by the council’s deputy leader and West Finchley ward member Ross Houston, who said the scale and effect on daylight for a neighbouring residential block in Shakespeare Road was a “key concern”.

He said: “The distance between this building and number seven, which is less than the guidelines, is a factor and I think the report goes into more detail about the light and I think the affects on 7 Shakespeare Road which I need to point out has two single-aspect flats is going to come into consideration.”

Cllr Houston acknowledged public realm improvements were “needed” but urged the developer, if the project was approved, to carry out construction with a “minimum” impact on residents due to the narrowness of Shakespeare Road.

Rajiv Agarwalla, a resident of 7 Shakespeare Road, described the project as “just insane” and a “bloody disaster”. He said the officer’s report referenced data from a previous daylight and sunlight survey that was carried out on an older version of the plan causing “confusion”.

Rajiv said: “The officer’s report ignores the scale and loss of light and level of impact on Shakespeare Road focusing only on the residual values.”

He added there were congestion issues on the road due to the nursery and commercial buildings and criticised the developer for a lack of a travel survey.

Rajiv said: “People are going to come with suitcases, luggage, are they not going to get an Uber, a taxi, deliveries and it’s all squeezed into Shakespeare Road which is already a small cul-de-sac. The road is not even adopted by the council so there’s no enforcement mechanisms.”

Benjamin Aaron, the developer, said he’d spent three years to bring forward the proposals, which had over time led to a “reduction in height and massing”. He added the buildings were currently in a “very poor state” which had caused antisocial behaviour and needed “significant investment to bring them up to modern standards”.

The nursery would be rebuilt, 350 new jobs created, as well as £2million of local expenditure made annually. The development team put the confusion over the data on the daylight and sunlight figures down to there being an “interim scheme” but “weren’t sure” how the mistake had happened.

After nearly two hours of discussion the committee voted six votes to three to approve the scheme, subject to referral to the Mayor of London, with conditions for fenestration on the lower floors of the building and vehicle servicing to manage traffic impacts added.

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