The new London Plan punishes Barnet

Barnet must not be ‘Boxer’ in Sadiq Khan’s Animal Farm say Cllr Josh Mastin-Lee and Cllr Shimon Ryde

The outside of the City Hall building in Royal Docks — City Hall – (Credit – GLA)

When the Barnet Post published the headline on 17^th July “New London Plan includes housing target lower than government’s own aim for the capital” residents breathed a collective sigh of relief.

One can only guess what the headline would have read had the Post’s correspondent known then what we know now, the draft London Plan has burdened Barnet with the highest housing target in the capital, a target even higher than that of the outgoing plan and includes building 7000 homes on Greenbelt land?

Lord Sadiq Khan has released his draft of the new London Plan (effective 2028) which largely determines what gets built and where in London over the next 10 years. If adopted in its current form, his new plan promises to change Barnet beyond recognition.

The highest housing target in London. Our greenbelt given over to developers. A drive towards “site optimisation” which might mean Barnet never builds a house again, only flats. All to bail out London boroughs which have failed to build. Residents and councillors must use the consultation to stand up and make their voices heard.

Barnet’s Conservative Councillors have read and reflected on the draft London Plan. It is deeply troubling. The plan as it is currently authored by the mayor ends Barnet’s long history as a suburban borough. To understand why, here are some of the key reforms in the plan:

Barnet’s housing target will become the highest in London with a huge rise of 38% against our 2021-2031 target.

Barnet is expected to build 32,730 “units” in the 10 years between 2028 and 2038.

Barnet has been told that it should build 7,000 of those units on its greenbelt.

The plan designates Mill Hill and “Barnet” (meaning Chipping Barnet) as a “Green Belt Broad Location for Growth”, meaning their green spaces could be up for grabs.

A requirement to “optimise” (i.e. build as many units as possible) small sites with typical heights of 3-4 stories everywhere. It is unlikely that London will ever again build a “house”.

A new Sustainable Access Measure or “SAM” which replaces Public Transport Accessibility Levels or “PTAL”. PTAL previously helped constrain dense development away from stations.

The minimum definition of a “tall building” rises from 6 to 10 stories, with a new concept of “Midrise” allowing for higher density.

Together, the above measures would rapidly densify and urbanise Barnet. Consider the huge Edgware development: 28 storey tower blocks and 3,500 flats which will change the town centre forever. Under the new London Plan, Barnet would need to build an “Edgware” every single year.

It means potentially increasing Barnet’s population by almost a quarter (based on average household sizes) in 10 years without any commensurate increase in social or transport infrastructure. In short, Zone 1 density with Zone 6 services.

We can expect developers to pack new schemes with one- and two-bedroom flats rather than the family sized homes needed in Barnet. This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at planning committees with current supply being disproportionately geared towards small flats (“Manhattan apartments” as developers are starting to term them).

Finally, it means releasing hundreds of hectares of our green belt for housing (especially social housing) with yet more to follow in the second 10-year period from 2038 to 2048. This is despite the preservation of our greenbelt being a core tenet of Barnet’s Local Plan.

Looking at the wider London context, we see a great injustice behind Barnet’s targets. Under the current London Plan, Barnet has the fourth highest housing target in London but has also been one of the highest performers in meeting it. This is partly due to extensive regeneration projects in Brent Cross, Colindale and West Hendon, which have used up most of the Borough’s major brownfield sites.

Meanwhile, many other London Boroughs have delivered only a fraction of their housing targets. In the 2021-2024 window, Lewisham delivered only 23% of their target. Greenwich, 39%. Barking & Dagenham, 59%. And yet, the new London Plan has rewarded these boroughs with lower or static housing targets. Lewisham’s target falls by 16%, Greenwich by 1% and Barking & Dagenham by 50%.

What is Barnet’s reward for its own Herculean efforts? It is a significantly higher housing target which consumes our green belt to save the Mayor of London’s blushes. Instead of martialling underperforming London boroughs to do their bit, the mayor has instead dumped the unmet targets on Barnet. No good deed goes unpunished.

There is still time for Barnet’s Councillors and residents to have their say. The draft London Plan is in consultation, ending in mid-October, and we must make our voice heard constructively and persuasively.

As a starting point, we are asking the Mayor of London to extend the consultation (which spans Summer and Jewish High Holy days) to give Barnet a proper chance to review and respond.

At the council level, the Conservatives and Labour are forming a working group alongside planning officers to find common ground for a response. Throughout this process the Conservatives will communicate our concerns repeatedly and robustly.

In parallel, we are working closely with the Conservatives on the London Assembly to deliver a clear message directly to the Mayor of London. That London’s suburbs must be treated as partners in his plan, rather than its workhorse. Barnet must not be ‘Boxer’ in Sadiq Khan’s Animal Farm.

We would also urge Barnet’s residents and residents’ associations to speak out and respond to the consultation. Responses can be sent to [email protected].

In May’s elections, the Conservative and Labour manifestos both promised to protect Barnet’s green belt. Voters entrusted their councillors with a duty of stewardship over Barnet’s precious heritage as a leafy, neighbourly suburb of streets, parks and green fields.

That suburban character is why people come to live in Barnet. They do not come for yet another domineering landscape of standardised, greyish-brown London “block slop”.

By ignoring and even trying to demolish that character, the new London plan might be the greatest test of our stewardship in Barnet’s post-war history. Together, we can and must rise to the challenge as a united front.

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