Enfield RoadWatch Action Group

Please respond to the Planning Reforms consultation by September 24

13/9/24  Thanks again to the thousands of you who responded to the recent Regulation 19 consultation and to those who let us know that their submissions were not in the council database. We corresponded with the Planning Inspector, Steven Lee, about all the omissions [well over 1,000] via his Programme Officer and that prompted some action.

Some of you may have received an email from Annette Feeney, the Programme Officer, with the letter sent to the council.  The full letter can be seen on the council’s local plan examination website.  With regard to the missing representations, Mr. Lee says:   I have been informed by the Programme Officer that some issues have been identified with the database of representations made at the Regulation 19 stage…. It is, of course, imperative that I have access to all the representations made. Please keep the Programme Officer informed of progress on this work and any further issues that arise.  The council have until midday on September 30 to provide a timetable for correcting the above – and a deadline of midday on November 1 to respond to the Inspector’s other questions.  Of course, once we hear that the council has corrected the database, we will do some more checking and notify the Inspector if there are still omissions.

We don’t know at this stage what impact any of this will have on the examination schedule, but we are already preparing for the hearings so we will be ready whenever they happen [which might not be until early next year].

In the meantime, an important consultation is under way that will impact the longterm future of the Green Belt. The new government is proposing planning reforms that will severely weaken protections.  You can find all the information here.  Please take the time to make your opinion known.

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8/8/24 The council has submitted the local plan to the Planning Inspectorate. If you made a representation/objection to the recent Regulation 19 consultation, which closed on May 20, please check that it has been included. Go to the index athttps://www.enfield.gov.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0031/61789/Reg19-Representation-index-Planning.xlsxand search for your name or organisation. Note the 5 digit number then go tohttps://www.enfield.gov.uk/services/planning/new-enfield-local-plan/elpexaminationand type that number into the search box. It should bring up whatever you submitted.  Let us know if anything is missing

6/8/24   Please object to Spurs planning application for Whitewebbs. Deadline August 13  Spurs submitted numerous amendments to their planning application so there is a new deadline of Tuesday, August 13 at 5pm. If you haven’t yet objected or if the new information contains some objections you haven’t yet made, please respond to Planning Application 24/00987/FUL. You’ll find instructions, a synopsis of the arguments and much more information, including maps and illustrations of what is proposed and an example of the comment form, at the Whitewebbs website

At the time of writing, the campaign is still waiting to hear whether they will be allowed to object to the decision made by the judge at the recent judicial review.

Local Plan update:  Thanks again to everyone who responded to the recent Regulation 19 Local Plan consultation. We understand that the plan will be submitted to the Planning Inspector in the next few weeks and that hearings may start in November.  More on all of that once we have definite information, but we are already preparing for those hearings whenever they happen.

Planning Reforms:  You are probably aware that the new Government has proposed planning reforms which will have a direct impact on the Green Belt.  The changes are currently out for consultation.  We are working on our response and will post that on the website once it is ready.  The consultation will close at 11:45pm on Tuesday, September 24.  If you would like to see the consultation go here.

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9/6/24   We are continuing to help the Whitewebbs campaign in their efforts to save Whitewebbs Park for the people of Enfield and to stop it being taken over by Spurs for a women’s training academy.

You may have heard that Mr Justice Mould decided against the campaign at the Judicial Review. For the sake of all our open spaces we must all continue the fight and get the decision changed.

The campaign needs to raise £10,000 in 7 days [by the end of Friday, June 14] so that the judgment can be appealed. Please click here to contribute via CrowdJustice.

Legal deadlines are tight.  We believe that there are good grounds for appeal and are asking permission from the Court of Appeal to do so.

The reasons for this are:

1. We believe that we have a case in law.

2. If Mr Justice Mould’s ruling stands then all the public open space in London and other parts of the country are at risk from sale and inappropriate development.

3. Since the Judicial Review hearing Tottenham Hotspur Ltd have submitted their planning application. We now have a much clearer view of what they intend to do with the land.

Half of the open space in Whitewebbs Park will be enclosed as a fortress for elite football. It will be surrounded and hidden by metal fencing, high laurel hedging, a barrier of vegetation,  earth barriers in places (“bunds”) and the dense planting of trees.

The pitch area will be bulldozed  and about 16 hectares of mixed grass meadowland, including a rare area of acid  grassland, will be removed and replaced by manicured grass pitches and one astroturf.  Many trees will be removed. More details can be found at  https://whitewebbspark.org.uk/planning-application-guide-sheets/

The PILC  (www.pilc.org.uk) will be acting as solicitors in the case and the same barrister will be instructed.

We have to act quickly to raise the sum needed for the  application. If you can help with a donation, however small, and/or by contacting others about the case please do so before the deadline.  Click here to donate.

Although the formal consultation period is ended there is still time to add your comments and objections, but do not delay. Details are on the Friends of Whitewebbs web page.  And you can find more information here.

Thanks for your continued support.  Together we are stronger!

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5-21-24  Another phase of our battle to save Enfield’s Green Belt ended yesterday.  Your response to the Regulation 19 consultation was amazing!  We’re still tallying the final numbers but it looks like more than 4,700 individual submissions, making more than 8,000 comments on various policies!  We believe that’s more than any other London borough has ever done. Thank you! And a special thanks to all our volunteers.  We would never have achieved this without you all!

At 3pm yesterday we delivered 20 boxes of printed objections to the Civic Centre.  Watch our Instagram post here  Now we wait for a few months while the Council digests and collates and sends all the information to the Planning Inspectorate.  The hearings should take place late this year or early next year.

But – after a brief rest – we are not going to rest on our laurels.  We need your help for something else, please.  The Spurs application for their women’s training centre on Whitewebbs Park closes at the end of May and we need a lot of objections to that too.  Information will be posted in the next day or two, so please check back.  The High Court ruling may have gone against us but an appeal has been requested and hopefully that battle is not yet over.  More info on Whitewebbs here.

Please stay tuned.  We’ll continue to post on our Facebook page and send out our newsletters so please sign up if you are not on our email list.  info@enfieldroadwatch.co.uk 

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Anglo Aquatic – LBE has granted permission for the development of a Green Belt site on Strayfield Road in Crews Hill subject to GLA approval.  We have written to the Mayor objecting and asking for the GLA to refuse permission.  CPRE-London have also objected and their letter lays out the issues clearly. CPRE letter to Mayor 210923 – Anglo Aquarium   If you would like to object too, please email mayor@london.gov.uk.  We are most concerned about the precedent permission would set.

Whitewebbs – the legal battle to save Whitewebbs Park continues.  Updates will be posted as this progresses.

A campaign is under way for a major new park on Enfield’s eastern side. Led by EnCaf [Enfield Climate Action Forum] and CPRE-London, the park could extend up to 60 hectares around Banbury Reservoir on unloved Green Belt land. The campaign would love to know what ideas you have for the park. Please click on the link to complete the short survey and share your ideas. It takes less than 5-minutes. Please share it too. Thanks.      https://tinyurl.com/2p8xnby3

12/6/23 The £18,000 needed for the first phase of the legal campaign to save Whitewebbs was met in record time! Thanks to everyone who contributed. The barristers will now start working on the case and this phase may take a few weeks. We’ll update as soon as we hear anything. If this phase is successful, another fundraising campaign will be launched for phase 2.  Stay tuned ….

27/5/23 Thanks to everyone who sent in objections to the Whitewebbs lease earlier this year. The Council is moving forwards with the process to lease 60% of Whitewebbs Park to Tottenham Hotspur Limited (or a wholly owned subsidiary of that company) (“THL”), so it’s time for the legal challenge. 

The Friends of Whitewebbs are now fundraising via CrowdJustice.  The short message is that, based on an opinion from barristers, we believe that the Council’s proposal to dispose of 60% of Whitewebbs Park to THFC is unlawful.  £18,000 needs to be raised to get the process of Judicial Review started. If all supporters of Whitewebbs chip in, that initial goal can be met.  At this stage you are simply asked to pledge an amount. It will be collected only when the initial target is met.  If you’re ready to pledge, please go to https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-whitewebbs/ and thanks!

Full information about the legal challenge and more can be found at https://whitewebbspark.org.uk/  

Please share this with your friends and family.  There is a deadline to be met and we hope you can help.

We will be back with more information about the Local Plan in due course.  

11/1/23 You have until midnight on Sunday to object to the leasing of Whitewebbs Park to Spurs. Please read our post on the urgent action needed to save Whitewebbs hereThe Sun newspaper has  picked up on the story.  Click here. And Dispatch has covered the well-attended demo outside the Civic Centre on January 10.  Click here.

15/10/22  Our presentation to the full council in front a packed public gallery went very well and the council leader agreed to all three of our requests.  Thanks again to everyone who signed the petition and helped to collect signatures.  You can read more about the council meeting here.

When the next version of the local plan comes forward [which may be early next year], it has been agreed that:

  1. The revised local plan will come to the full council for a free and open debate with sufficient time allowed for the councillors to debate the plan’s merits
  2. Each councillor will have a chance to vote for or against the plan and, in the interests of transparency, this vote will be subject to a ‘Roll Call’ so there is a public record of how each councillor voted
  3. The revised plan will be published in fully-accessible formats at least 12 weeks before the council meeting to allow all the councillors, especially those who are new, to engage with their constituents in a meaningful and productive consultation about plan, which will affect every aspect of life in the borough for the next 15 years.

The Action for Enfield’s Future coalition has been very effective and we propose to continue working with the other organisations and groups moving forwards.

Thanks for your continued support.

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9/6/22  Thank you again for all your hard work during the Local Plan consultation last year. It was a magnificent effort with about 7,000 responses sent in to the Council.  Now we need your help again, please.  Last time you helped in various ways. This time it is much more specific.  In collaboration with other local groups who are trying to save the Green Belt, we have launched a petition on the council website, trying to force the local plan process into the daylight with a full council debate and public vote.  The next phase is less about numbers and more about technical planning arguments but we can still bring pressure to bear on the council as they finalise the plan. Please reach out to your friends, family and neighbours again, mobilise your networks, and spread the word however you can so we can reach at least 3,124 signatures – and hopefully many more.

Anyone who lives, works or studies in Enfield and can provide a legitimate Enfield postcode, can sign our petition on the Enfield Council website and help to save the Green Belt. This includes children but separate email addresses are needed.  Just click below.
Councillors: We Voted for You. Now Speak for Us! #Debate Enfield’s Local Plan

When you sign online, you have a choice of registering for the council website and signing and just signing.  Either is fine.

We can provide paper petitions too if you would like to go around your neighbourhood asking people to sign and/or for people who cannot sign online.  Just let us know and we can either email you a Word copy to print out or have some paper copies delivered to you.

Voting for a Local Plan is the most significant and important policy choice that can be made by local governments. 29 of the 63 current councillors are new since the recent council election in May so have had no input into the local plan. The swing away from Labour in Enfield, which bucked the London trend, signifies considerable discontent among Enfield voters and we believe all the councillors should have transparent and open communication with their constituents about the proposals and be prepared to have their vote noted.

Here is the full e-Petition.

The deadline is July 31.  Let’s see those numbers soar so we can send a loud message that any Local Plan that removes our Green Belt is not one we support. As always, thank you for your help.

We voted for them. Now they should speak for us! #Debate Enfield’s Local Plan!

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6/4/22  We have no news yet on the Local Plan, but we have geared up to encourage all eligible voters to take part in the Local Council Elections on Thursday, May 5.   It’s easy to ignore local elections, but these ones are vital to the future and character of our borough . If you are not registered to vote, please note that the deadline is one week away – Thursday, April 14.  You can register online at https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

There are several contentious issues that will affect how the vote goes and saving our Green Belt is high on the list.  The draft local plan proposes to take large swathes of the Green Belt for housing – unnecessarily because there are alternatives.  Especially at risk are Vicarage Farm and other fields to the north and south of the A110 and the whole Crews Hill area. 

Enfield RoadWatch is a non-partisan group so we will not endorse specific candidates, but we ask you to consider carefully how the various candidates stand on destroying the Green Belt and to vote accordingly.  We need to judge the candidates on their track record/ and or their party manifesto. A large turnout voting for candidates who share our goals could really make a difference.

There are a lot of new candidates. To make it a bit easier, below are a list of candidates who previously voted for the draft local plan and its proposals to develop the Green Belt [they are all Labour candidates] and brief party manifestos courtesy of Enfield Dispatch.

Candidates who voted for the draft Local Plan

Conservative Party manifesto

Green Party manifesto

Labour Party manifesto

Lib Dem manifesto

There are independent candidates too.  If you’d like to see the complete list of candidates and who nominated them click here.

You can read our response to the draft local plan here so you can refresh your mind on the issues. These elections will dictate the future direction and character of Enfield.  Please take the time to vote and send the message that Enfield’s residents want to keep our countryside areas open, green and concrete-free!  We’ll be back in touch soon when the next Local Plan consultation is announced. 

Thanks for your continued support.

 

The Draft Local Plan Consultation closed on September 13. Your response was amazing!

Thank you!! We can’t thank you enough for answering the call to help save Enfield’s Green Belt. We delivered over 1,500 consultation letters to the Civic Centre and were copied on over 200 email responses.  Many people will have responded direct so that should amount to several hundred more people telling the Council NO! Let’s hope they listen!  And a special thank to our army of volunteers! You’re all stars!

What’s Next?  The recent consultation is known as ‘Regulation 18’. The Council will review the input from everywhere and finalise the Draft Local Plan. There will be a ‘Regulation 19’ consultation next year followed by an ‘Examination in Public’. The process of preparing a Local Plan is lengthy and convoluted but we will keep you informed. Please ask your friends, neighbours and family members to share their email addresses with us so they can also stay informed and engaged.  Just drop us an email and we’ll sign you up.

Official responses to the consultation

We are always anxious to see what politicians higher up the chain make of Enfield’s proposals. So far we have heard from the Mayor of London and Enfield North MP, Feryal Clark.

The Mayor of London makes it clear that he does not support the plan as proposed and would like to see many changes. With respect to releasing Green Belt he says: Having considered Enfield’s draft Plan and the evidence to support the preferred approach it is the Mayor’s opinion that the exceptional circumstances that are required to justify the release of Green Belt land through the Local Plan process have not been established. This is good news and we hope the council pays due attention. You can find the full response here. Click on the 2021 link.

Enfield North MP, Feryal Clark has also made her response public. She states that an adequate case has not been made for releasing Green Belt and that therefore ‘the inclusion of this land represents a waste of the Council’s Regeneration and Planning resources as these sites have no realistic chance of being successfully brought forward’. You can read her full response here.

The Council should now be considering all the input they have received and deciding what changes, if any, they should make to the draft plan. We hope they make a lot!

Please note, information about the Draft Local Plan consultation has moved to the Past Consultations page.

Thanks for your continued support.

Please sign our petition at change.org.uk   Search for ‘Protect Enfield’.

We’re now over 35,000!  But we are not done yet. Have you signed yet? 

There are many ways you can contribute our campaign, from volunteering to making a donation.  Find out more at Supporting the campaign.   ,

11-6-21  The campaign is gearing up and we will be back in touch once we’ve had a chance to review the consultation materials.  Here is the newsletter we sent out to supporters yesterday with more details about what we are planning.

9-6-21  As anticipated, the vote went along party lines at the Council meeting tonight so the consultation will proceed on the preferred option.  The consultation will start around June 20 and will run for 12 weeks.  We’ll post information about it when we see the various options for responding.  We must get as many people as possible to respond.  We will be gearing up soon with banners, posters, fliers, ads and intensifying our social media.  We’ll post more about how you can get a banner or yard sign in a few days. Losing the vote tonight was expected – though we had hoped that some Labour councillors would defy the whip – but we are now ready for the next phase.

7-6-21  Today the combined campaigns to save Enfield’s Green Belt wrote to all the Councillors in advance of the Wednesday council meeting.  We urged them to do the following:

  1. That the consultation period should be of 12 weeks duration, the same as the previous consultation.
  2. A public consultation about the development options only, not the Preferred Option draft Local Plan.
  3. A public debate in an all-Member panel with powers to decide and agree the Preferred Option prior to endorsement by Full Council.
  4. Panel reports accompanied by sufficient and accurate information on each option so Councillors’ decisions affecting Enfield for the next 20 years are fully informed and transparent to the public, to whom they are accountable.

The Preferred Option would be a disaster for Enfield and is being pushed through with undue haste, when there are better alternatives. The local plan documents are voluminous, incorrect and incomplete and we want the Councillors to pause for a breath and consider whether they really want this to be their legacy to the borough.

Please feel free to use any of these points and information in your own communication to local politicians – and others.

For those who want more information about the problems, here are additional documents to read:

Consultation Letter to all Councillors – Final 060621

Scenarios and Options in Plan

Issues with Option B 07-06-21

Enfield Draft Local Plan Analysis of Documentation June 6 2021

Enfield Draft Local Plan – key extracts (1)(1)

2-6-21 Draft local plan released and it’s an assault on our Green Belt!

The Council’s preferred option is to build 3,500+ homes on the Green Belt farmland both sides of the A110 all the way to Oakwood Station and to build 7,500+ homes at Crews Hill, which is also Green Belt, pushing aside all the garden centres and family businesses there.  The developers must be cracking open the champagne.

None of this is necessary as homes can be built on brownfield elsewhere and it’s a tragic short-term decision that will haunt Enfield’s residents forever.

We don’t know yet when the consultation will start but we will let you know so you can respond and say NO!!!  In the meantime, it’s important to write to your Councillors before they vote on the plan on June 9 and tell them that they represent you, not the party.  You can find your Councillors here.

We will be updating the website frequently and sending out email updates as necessary.  If you’d like to be added to our email list, please let us know.  And if you’d like to read the draft local plan for yourself it is here

20-5-21  New report released on the Green Belt and affordable housing

Council’s lose-lose housing strategy is a disaster for Enfield, say campaigners

In a new report, released today, [1] a coalition of local groups [2] say Enfield’s approach to new housing fails to deliver desperately needed family homes and unnecessarily promotes paving over our precious green fields instead of regenerating deprived areas.

The campaigners say the latest attempt to oblige release of Green Belt land [3] is unlikely to solve Enfield’s housing crisis [4] and ignores the vast amounts of previously-developed brownfield sites in need of regeneration. There are enough of these brownfield sites to provide the new homes that are needed, without building tower blocks, but the Council says it is unable to demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land and has only met 56% of its housing requirements [5].

Matt Burn of Better Homes for Enfield observed that “Our research also shows that affordable housing targets are routinely missed, especially targets for genuinely affordable social rent housing”.

“Enfield’s housing needs are being routinely side-lined in a drive to meet overall targets. We think that now more than ever, a new approach to housing is required that focuses on needs, not numbers”[6]

Alice Roberts of CPRE London said: “The London Borough of Enfield recently released a local Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment including 29 Green Belt sites which they say have potential for housing development”.

“But Green Belt housing is typically well out of range of anyone on low income. CPRE research [7] shows only a tenth of homes built in the Green Belt are ‘affordable’ and these are rarely for social rent. Additionally, people living in Green Belt developments have poor access to public transport and are tied to owning and using cars, as well as being stuck with the cost of commuting, creating further financial stress for families on low incomes”.

“The Council claims to be working for low-income residents but building on the Green Belt is likely to benefit only developers and wealthier people ”.

Among the Green Belt sites targeted for destruction are: [8]
• Eight horticulture nurseries in Crews Hill, which campaigners say should be saved to provide local jobs and locally produced food
• Several large areas of productive farmland, vital for local food production at a time of food insecurity and climate emergency
• Edmonton Marsh, part of the Lee Valley Regional Park which is essential to provide a new park for residents in Meridian Water; an area already deprived of green space, vital for the well-being of local communities . [9]

Furthermore, Enfield Council is conducting another Green Belt Review for publication with the Local Plan [10]. Since the preceding comprehensive review is only 7 years old [11], this is either suspicious or precipitate, especially since the London Plan 2020 states that “The Green Belt should be protected from inappropriate development”.[12]

David Flint of EnCaf (Enfield Climate Action Forum) said: “Building on the Green Belt also leads to urban sprawl, undermines our ability to tackle pollution, climate change and the collapse of ecosystems, and eliminates local food production, wildlife habitats and of course areas for recreation for Enfield’s growing population.”

“We are urging local residents to contact their MP and local councillors, and to respond to the upcoming Local Plan consultation. They should say No to Green Belt destruction and Yes to urban regeneration and genuinely affordable homes and a sustainable future.”

Carol Fisk of Enfield RoadWatch added : “We need to secure London’s Green Belt for future generations. It would be tragic indeed to squander it just as millions of Londoners, in the wake of the pandemic, have discovered its life-saving value”.

A lot of the Green Belt is already owned or optioned by developers; the threats to Enfield’s Green Belt are very real.

Media Release Footnotes

Our Campaign – a Snapshot  –  Enfield’s Green Belt and Open Spaces are under attack in the Local Plan Revision process. The Council would like to remove 7% or more of the Green Belt, including Crew’s Hill, for development.  This is an area equivalent to more than Trent Park or Forty Hall, two Durants Parks or ten Jubilees or Oakwoods!  Developers are working hard to make this happen, despite the fact that there is sufficient brownfield and previously-developed land for housing and infrastructure.  [Read more about that here: Space to Build in Enfield]  Enfield RoadWatch is fighting to protect the Green Belt for current and future generations because of its many benefits. [Click here to learn about them Why is the Green Belt important?]   Please add your voice to the campaign.

What is the Local Plan Revision Process? The Local Plan is Enfield Council’s vision for the future. The revision process includes pubic consultations when you can have your say. The first consultation closed at the end of February, 2019 and we hope the Council received a loud and clear message that Enfield’s residents want to keep all the borough’s Green Belt and Open Spaces.  [You can see more information about the first consultation under the Consultations tab.]  The next consultation will happen late this year or early in 2020 but we need to keep up the pressure while decisions are being made behind closed doors.  Please help us!   Click through here to find out how: How Can I Help?

About Enfield RoadWatch

Enfield RoadWatch began life in 2015 to protest the potential development of an important area of Green Belt South of Enfield Road – but because of the importance and many benefits of the borough’s entire network of Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land [MOL] the action group now has a broader focus.   Please help us to save the Green Belt for the community and future generations!

Enfield RoadWatch is not alone, please visit Supporting the campaign for a list of people and associations who are also concerned and wish to save the Green Belt.

Objectives

  • To raise awareness of the five main purposes of the Green Belt according to the 2012 National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the wider benefits it provides including improving air quality, supporting ecosystems and biodiversity, assisting the reduction of flood threats, creating opportunities for local food production, and providing areas for recreation and sport.
  • To identify any threats to the Green Belt, including any changes to Green Belt designations and pressure from inappropriate development proposals, and to share these with validated evidence with supporters on a regular basis.
  • To highlight the need for developers/bodies/authorities to comply with national policies and Mayoral commitment to first develop/ regenerate existing Brownfield sites and to discourage tactics such as land banking, which cause unnecessary pressures on protected green space to meet housing targets.
  • To campaign against and challenge any proposals to threaten the Green Belt in collaboration with community partners/associations, groups and volunteers, both locally and nationally by highlighting threats, gaining support and furthering our aims of protecting the Green Belt.
  • To securely keep and maintain a database of members so updates can be circulated.
  • To create and maintain appropriate communication channels with supporters, through the development of a user-friendly and functional website, regular news updates, and the use of social media to highlight both the benefits of and threats to Green Belt, locally and elsewhere, and to arrange meetings as appropriate.
  • To raise funds to further our aims through donations, grants, contributions, fund raising activities and any other lawful means.

Membership

  • The Action group is made up of residents who represent the community opposed to any development on Enfield’s Green Belt.  Ian D’Souza is the Chair, Carol Fisk is the Vice Chair.

 

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