City Hall planning controversy to be raised at council meeting

Hendon councillor Shimon Ryde has put forward a motion on ‘Defending Local Democracy in Planning Decisions’ for discussion at the town hall tomorrow reports David Floyd

A bowling alley next to a car park — Great North Leisure Park in North Finchley – (Credit – Mira Shah)

Barnet councillors will vote on a motion criticising City Hall and central government tomorrow as part of the ongoing fallout from the controversial overturning of two hotly contested planning decisions.

Deputy mayor of London Jules Pipe decided on 27th May to reject the decisions of Barnet Council’s strategic planning committee to refuse planning permission for the development of Great North Leisure Park in North Finchley and the tube station car park in High Barnet.

The deputy mayor’s actions have infuriated local politicians and left both the Barnet Society and campaign group Our North Finchley considering legal action.

In a motion submitted before tomorrow’s full council meeting, Hendon Conservative councillor Shimon Ryde draws attention to proposed changes to national planning rules ‘which place increased emphasis on meeting centrally determined housing targets and risk reducing the influence of locally elected councillors over development decisions’ and the strong opposition to the North Finchley and High Barnet schemes.

He proposes that the council should vote to: “Regret the decision of both City Hall and the Secretary of State to disregard
the wishes of local residents and the concerns expressed through the Council’s Planning Committee regarding the High Barnet and Finchley Lido schemes as well as the serious fire concerns in the Edgware development.”

Additionally, he proposes the local authority should opposed further plans by the government to centralise planning powers and that the leader of the council should write to the secretary of state and the Mayor of London expressing concerns over “the erosion of local democratic control over planning matters”.

With opposition to the deputy mayor’s decision spanning the political spectrum, Cllr Ryde’s motion has inspired amendments from both the Labour administration and the borough’s sole Green councillor Charli Thompson but, in both cases, they are suggesting changes of emphasis rather than substance.

Cllr Thompson’s amendments include the position that new homes and infrastructure should not come at the expense of “meaningful public participation or high-quality place-making” while centralised planning should not “de-prioritise local housing need”.

In Labour’s case, cabinet member Ross Houston suggests a range of tweaks in wording but he is particularly keen to make clear that another controversial development cited by Cllr Ryde, the Ballymore/TfL development in Edgware, was initiated under a previous Conservative administration.

Given the broad agreement in principle, it seems likely that the motion will pass in some form.

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