Update: We have been told that objections can be submitted by email. This is so much easier than using the portal so please take a couple of minutes and send your comments. Don’t forget to use the subject: Planning Application: 24/00987/FUL – Former Whitewebbs Park Golf Course Adapt the comments suggested below and send them by 5pm on Friday, May 31 to: planning.support@enfield.gov.uk
How to object to the Spurs application for Whitewebbs:
- The council prefers you to object via the council’s planning portal. To comment or object to the application, you must create an account on the online planning register. This allows you to see the progress of an application, submit your comments and set up email alerts for applications or locations you’re interested in. [It is different to an Enfield Connect account. ] The link takes you to the Whitewebbs page. Click on Comments then scroll down and you’ll find the link to register for an account. Once you have completed the registration, you will receive an activation email which needs to be clicked before you can start your objections.
- The web form will time out after 20 minutes and you will lose any comments that have not been submitted, so it is a good idea to draft your comments in another programme, such as notepad or MS Word, and then copy and paste your comments to the web form.
- You can also submit objections by letter to: Whitewebbs Planning Response, Enfield Council, Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield, EN1 3XA. Your letter must include the header: Planning Application: 24/00987/FUL – Former Whitewebbs Park Golf Course, Whitewebbs Road, Enfield, EN2 Remember the deadline is end of business this Friday, May 31 so there is very little time for objections via the post.
- A simple format for your objection follows. Copy it into Word or similar and put each point in your own words. You’ll find additional information for each point further down the page.
I am writing to object to the above planning application for the following reasons:
- Whitewebbs is an important and valuable area of public green space.
- The high fencing that will enclose the space will completely change the landscape and will have the same impact as a built development. It is therefore inappropriate in the Green Belt.
- Public access to the new facility will be very limited. Public access will also be reduced by removal of the car park at the North end.
- Protected and much-loved views will be adversely impacted.
- The application is contrary to the draft Enfield Local Plan’s policy BG6 on protecting the Green Belt and historic landscape/features.
- The application is also opposed to the London Plan policies G2 on protecting the Green Belt and G4 on Open Space which states that Development Plans should “ensure that open space, particularly green space, included as part of development remains publicly accessible”.
- Loss and deterioration of veteran and notable trees and the potential loss and deterioration of ancient woodland. These are irreplaceable habitats and should clearly be protected from harm.
- At time when both Enfield and the London Mayor have adopted targets to improve and increase the amount of wild space and habitat for nature to recover, this proposed allocation will entirely destroy vital natural space which will be replaced with engineered surface. There will be other major impacts on surrounding nature because of light and noise.
- Whitewebbs is, and should remain, a public park with full public access and be retained for the mental and physical health of the surrounding population, available for exercise, relaxation and contact with nature.
Please do not copy and paste but use your own words. Templates are considered a petition and have less weight. You do not have to use all the objections.
Write to your councillors. Copy and paste your objections into an email to your own councillors [link] and to the three councillors for Whitewebbs Ward so they’ll know the strength of feeling against this planning application.
The statutory period for objections and comments ends on 31st May but they can be submitted up to the time of or just before the planning committee meeting.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR YOUR OBJECTION
[Number relate to items in section 4]
4b Changes to the landscape. The construction of the pitches will make major changes to the park landscape: i] The land will be levelled in the pitch area (about 40 acres). ii] Fencing and earth barriers will disrupt views across the park. Views considered important in the Local Plan, such as Southwards from Whitewebbs Lane, will be blocked by fencing and planting. Iii] The openness of the parkland will be restricted by the pitches and the tree planting programme. [THFC will argue that the planting of trees will hide the pitches and the changes in the landscape but that is not the point. Trees take years to mature and become effective cover. Also the detrimental landscape changes will be irreversible and will remain after the 25 years of the Spurs lease.]
Additionally the character of the area around the Lake will be seriously affected by the proposed access road for the Carvery. Traffic will disturb the peaceful atmosphere which currently benefits wild life, nesting birds and people. The traffic would also present a hazard to pedestrians.
The development will impose an industrialised form of leisure in an open landscape. [THFC will argue that the golf course did the same thing but we can point to the fact that this was open land and a public course. It could also be asserted that the Public Golf Course was intended as a temporary measure to help with park finances with a view to it being returned to public open space in due course.]
The tree planting proposals will change the character of the park and disrupt the open spacious views from Beggars Hollow car park northwards.
The current training ground is surrounded by fencing which has completely changed the character of that area of Green Belt and the same changes will happen to Whitewebbs.
4c Public access – Despite assertions from THFC that there will be public access to the training facility, that is clearly not the case. Even Judge Mould, who recently ruled in favour of the Council in his judicial review, admitted: “…in my view, it is clear that football academy and training facilities […] are not facilities which, to any significant degree, will be accessible to the public for recreation. The football training facility will be primarily focused on the development of emerging and elite professional footballers in a highly managed programme operated by a long established and successful premier league football club. The opportunity for members of the public to access that facility for recreation are likely to be very limited and subsidiary to that principal purpose.”
There is no provision for parking at the Northern end of the park. Currently there is a carpark. Spurs claim that it is used for antisocial behaviour. This will limit access to the Northern part of the park.
Footpaths and bridleways – The Planning Application is far from clear about the permissive paths and permissive bridleways. The maps are not consistent. There does not appear to be a commitment to enhancing the permissive East /West bridleways on the leased area. There is only provision for a footpath along the Northern edge of the leased area. Within the leased area there are only two footpath ”enhancements”, both designed to lead people away from the pitch area.
Of the two North-South statutory bridleways, the application proposes for the Eastern one a hardened surface for cyclists alongside the softer bridleway. This combined use by pedestrians, cyclists and pedestrians has safety implications.
4d Loss of important views – the Local Plan does not protect the views northwards from Beggars Hollow. Any fencing proposed by Spurs will severely interfere with these views.
4f Contrary to Mayor of London’s and Enfield Local Plan policies. The proposed development is wholly inappropriate on Green Belt, as it will have high fencing which will enclose the space and completely change the landscape, with an identical impact to built development.
4g and h. Damage to the ecology and biodiversity of the area – The golf course and meadows at Whitewebbs are unique within the Borough landscape. The former Whitewebbs Golf Course and Meadows are surrounded by three Sites of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation (Hillyfields, Forty Hall and Whitewebbs Wood). The 2020 SINC review says of Whitewebbs Woods: “The site forms part of a wider network of habitats, which offer important opportunities for a range of protected and notable flora and faunal species in the north of the borough.” The wider network of habitats will also be damaged by replacing diverse grassland with monoculture pitches and astroturf. In addition, Whitewebbs Wood contains areas of ancient woodland which, along with veteran trees which are also present, are two of Defra’s irreplaceable habitats, which need special consideration.
Also of concern is the traffic that will be generated on the new access road to the Toby Carvery. This will disturb the peace and quiet of this area for both wildlife and people, effectively turning the lake into a traffic island. It is an important change in landscape and character and detrimental to the biodiversity of the area.
MORE INFORMATION AT: Friends of Whitewebbs Park
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR OBJECTIONS BEFORE 5PM ON FRIDAY, MAY 31. THANK YOU!