PLANS REJECTED

In December 2022 Barnet Council's Planning Committee refused permission for Comer Homes to double the size of their development. The Mayor of London has powers to over-rule the Council and make the decision himself. But the Mayor's planner has informed the Council that he will not intervene: 

The ball is now in Comers' court - if they feel they have a valid case they may appeal to the Secretary of State to hold a planning inquiry. 

PLANS REJECTED

Hello all,

Latest meeting of Barnet's Strategic Planning Committee

At its meeting on Wednesday 18th January 2023, Barnet's Strategic Planning Committee confirmed its earlier decision to reject the planning application from Comer Homes to expand the NLBP development.

You can read the formal reasons for the Committee's refusal at https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=11154&x=1 under item 6, but in brief these include:

• the excessive height, scale and massing of the proposed buildings; 

• the development would be to the detriment of the character and appearance of the area;

• the proposal would not create a high quality development and not constitute a sustainable form of development;

• the plan would be contrary to a number of national, regional and local planning policies; and,

• the proposed development does not include the provision of affordable housing, community and healthcare floorspace, or affordable workspace.

What happens next

Due to the scale of the plan, the Council's decision needs to be notified to the Mayor of London who may choose to intervene. If the Mayor does so (a process known as "calling-in") the Mayor's office will need to consider all the objections already submitted to Barnet Council. 

If the Mayor decides not to intervene, the applicant may still choose to submit an appeal to the Secretary of State, and there would be a further planning inquiry.

In either of these cases - intervention by the Mayor of London, or an Appeal - we will let everyone know what steps we need to take in order to ensure that our voices are heard.

Meanwhile - the new building for St Andrew's School

Local resident Pete Headland has been in correspondence with the Headteacher of St Andrew's school. This is what the Headteacher has said this week:

"...the building project is managed by the DfE and its appointed contractors. There are a number of formalities still being worked through and once complete, site mobilisation is targeted for Spring 2023.   

We share communication with our school community via a weekly newsletter which is available on our website: St Andrew the Apostle.  Bowmer + Kirkland will also be appointing a communications lead and once site is mobilised, they will provide updates on the construction process and information to the local community regarding the construction schedule. 

We will endeavour to share as much information as we can, and I will be [in] contact when there is more that I can share with you. "

We all hope that the contractors working on the school project will do a better job of communicating with local residents than Comer Homes have done, and that the actual building of the school will be less disruptive - and less destructive - than the site preparation works so far.

As for how long the school building project might take, the DfE have asked to use the existing temporary school buildings for 2½ years: 

https://publicaccess.barnet.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=RODTY1JIG3G00 which would be until August 2025!

regards,

David Farbey

Stop NLBP Expansion Coordinator

Friday 20th January 2023

 Please subscribe to our mailing list so we can keep you informed
and please join our Facebook group to see the latest on the NLBP site