Taking charge of the future

Cllr Ross Houston on how Barnet Labour will work with local partners to develop its housing policies

Barnet Council's Colindale offices and (inset) cabinet member Ross Houston — Barnet Council’s Colindale offices and (inset) cabinet member Ross Houston

Barnet is a wonderful place to live. Pleasant tree-lined streets. Countryside on our doorstep is protected by the Green Belt and good transport links into London. Parks, playgrounds and amenities that make it a great place to grow up and grow old in.

Communities and their representatives are the ones best placed to understand their areas and what makes it special. Ensuring that we preserve what we love about the borough and that new homes go in the right places.

To make Barnet accessible to the next generation, we are also committed to providing more homes. In the last four years we secured 1,000 new council homes and are aiming to provide 1,000 more for social rent.

We are one of the few councils delivering well against our adopted housing targets – despite the financial and economic challenges. Since the London Plan was adopted in 2021, we have delivered on average 2,157 homes each year.

And, having set a higher strategic target of 50 per cent affordable homes in our new Local Plan, 2,767 affordable homes have been completed through the planning system since 2022, with many more in the pipeline through approvals.

These are our lodestars: preserving the Barnet we love, and providing the homes families need to live in. These will continue to be our principles whatever changes are brought in the world of planning – from the government’s new framework to the draft new London Plan published today.

We want to take charge of the future of Barnet, together. At the council we will be working in a cross-party way to examine the changes to how planning will work. Above that, we will be having a conversation as a whole borough as our Local Plan comes up for review.

We will be engaging residents, conservation societies, experts, representatives’ groups, and communities on this from next year, so we can take the next steps together, as one borough.

That way, we can ensure that we, as a borough, shape how Barnet continues to evolve, rather than have the lead taken by developers or national or regional government.

Doing that will help ensure that what we love about Barnet will be available for the next generation, alongside making sure we build the homes they need.

Ross Houston is Barnet Council’s deputy leader, and cabinet member for homes and regeneration.

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