Enfield RoadWatch has been in contact with all the Councillors and Cabinet about the importance of preserving the Green Belt and the alternatives available to meet housing and infrastructure targets. We recently received a reply from Council Leader Caliskan which states that the Council is committed to exhausting all sustainable brownfield opportunities first.
[Cllr Nesil Caliskan] The Space to Build Report very much echoes Enfield’s emerging spatial growth strategy which is committed to exhausting all sustainable brownfield opportunities first. The work officers now seek to evidence is how we plan to optimise existing town centres and growth around train stations and underground stations. This will also inform approaches to suburban intensification in well-connected suburbs, out of town retail redevelopment as new mixed-use neighbourhoods as well as the opportunities that present in Enfield’s Eastern Corridor.
While this is reassuring in some ways, it doesn’t mean that they are ruling out Green Belt release and the Council could support some projects in town centres and around stations that local residents find unacceptable because of their density. So we need to remain vigilant and push for acceptable development that brings regeneration and benefits to current citizens while protecting the Green Belt.
Thanks to those of you who have written to your Ward Councillors. Please share any responses that are interesting.