Barnet’s Labour councillors have referred the North Finchley regeneration Site Assembly and Land Agreement up to Full Council dubbing it a “blank cheque to developers”. Labour councillors made the referral at last night’s Housing & Growth Committee (13 Sep) where the Agreement was discussed.
The Agreement starts the process for key sites to be sold to developers, Regal, before any detail about the plans have been published. Phase 1 includes The artsDepot, North Finchley Library, Lodge Lane and Woodhouse Road car parks.
It also extends the exclusivity period with the developers until the end of December 2022 and gives delegated authority to Council officers for this to be reviewed and extended “to support the regeneration of North Finchley Town Centre”.
Labour’s referral delays a decision on the Agreement until the Full Council meeting on 19 October.
Barnet Labour Group’s Housing & Growth spokesperson and Deputy Leader, Cllr Ross Houston said: “This Agreement is like signing a blank cheque to the developers. Key sites will be sold off and yet no-one has any idea what the town centre will look like and what will happen there.
“The Council makes grand claims that they are ‘delivering the community’s ambitions for North Finchley’ and the regeneration will be ‘in partnership with communities’, but it’s complete nonsense. The community has been told virtually nothing about the plans and the stakeholders’ Partnership Board has never been set-up.
“This failure to engage with residents has been going on for years, and now, suddenly, we’re being asked to agree that the Library and car parks are sold so the regeneration can start.
“As owner of these sites and the planning authority, the Council should not be handing over public assets without having any idea what will happen there and without putting robust conditions in place to ensure that the SPD is the absolute limit for things like height. It’s Barnet’s land, so Barnet and the community should be laying out exactly how they want it to be developed.
“The Conservatives do not stand-up to developers and they waive through scheme after scheme with mega-dense, high-rise towers and insufficient community benefit.
“We cannot rely on them to put the community first, so until more detail about the height and scale of new buildings in the regeneration is published and the community is consulted properly, we will not support this Agreement.”
Ends.
Notes:
1. A copy of the North Finchley site Agreement report can be found here (Agenda Item 10):
https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=696&MId=10846
To contact Cllr Houston: cllr.r.houston@barnet.gov.uk