Barnet Strategic Planning Committee - Is it fit for purpose ?

 I am a sad git - I know it , I have been for years. 

Last Thursday December 4th and this past Monday December 8th I sat through the meetings of the Strategic Planning Committee of Barnet Council, admittedly remotely from the comfort of my own living room with a cup of coffee and a box of After Eight mints. 

Now no normal person would submit to 4 hours of a Council Planning Committee (each meeting lasted 2  hours) unless they had too . Pity the nine Councillors who sit on the Committee (six Labour and 3 Conservative ) . The Labour Group have as their representatives a Group of Pensioners Councillors  Barnes , Cohen, Khalick, Roberts and Farrier none of whom will see 70 again presumably chosen for their experience and Planning expertise and their ability to just about stay awake during meetings . Additionally the Labour Chairman, or Chair of course in woke Barnet is Councillor Nigel Young . Now Councillor Young is an interesting man . A newly elected Councillor for Childs Hill Ward in 2022 he was straight away appointed Chair of the Stategic Planning Committee and has actually chaired it very well particularly when faced with a baying mob in the public gallery as he was during the meeting held earlier this year which dealt with the ridiculous application to build a Football Stadium for Barnet Football Club on Playing Fields they did not even own and the Council had no intention of selling to them. More about Councillor Young later in this blog !

The Conservatives have as their representatives Councillor Richard Cornelius (now an elder Statesman but still annoyed at being forced to give up the Leadership of the Council to the Welsh Reform upstart Councillor Thomas ) . Do not rule out a Leadership comeback from our Richard ! Then there is Councillor Josh Mastin- Lee a worthy and earnet successor to the late much missed  Councillor Eva Greenspan (who knew her Planning having done it for 35 years and spoke up for her residents and always topped the poll in her Ward as a result ) and finally Councillor Shuy Gordon the quiet , clever yet understated son of the late Councillor Brian Gordon 

Now Council Planning Committees are quasi judicial Committees ( as the Chair reminds us at the start of each meeting) so that the usual shenanigans of Local Government and Politics are strictly forbidden . In particular Councillors cannot be whipped and must vote according to Planning law . That is the theory anyway.

However in the last couple of years several applications across Barnet on a scale not seen since the late 1960s with the Grahame Park Estate have come forward notably "Edgware towers " the redevelopment of Edgware Town Centre , the redevelopment of North Finchley Town Centre and the constant threat / proposals from Transport for London to build on Station car parks.

The attitude of the ruling Labour Administration in Barnet has been to "Build baby build " and no matter what public opposition from Residents Groups or in the case of Edgware Towers, the London Fire Brigade have stopped the Labour members of the Planning Committee voting in favour of applications . The attitude can be seen by the Council Officers recomemendations . Officers always take their "steer" from leading Members especially the Chair of Planning and the Cabinet member responsible for Development (or whatever the current title is ) .All the major applications to build in Barnet in the last couple of years ( with the exception of the Football Club which had other considerations ) have come before Committee with an Officer recomemdation to approve . 

So imagine my surprise nah shock when Labour Members joined their Conservative colleagues in voting down the application for the Leisure Way development in Finchley last Thursday and the High Barnet Station Car Park development on Monday refusing the Officer recomemdation to approve. Suddenly all those worthy arguments troted out by Labour Councillors about the need for more social and affordabe housing were instantly forgotton .My shock was nothing compared to the Planning Officers who were clearly furious and having had their advise rejected on Thursday lost patience on Monday, indeed the Director started bullying the Committee into giving far more detailed reasons for refusal than normal . Indeed the mildly spoken Councillor Gordon who no doubt had a hot dinner waiting for him at home , said "We are not usually asked for this much detail in a refusal ".

The Leisure Way development was stage two in a three stage planning process to completley change North Finchley . This ill advised process was started by the previous Conservative Administration and enthusiastically pursued by the current Labour Administration. The first stage was to build on Lodge Lane N12, North Finchley car park the development to include a small cinema and an 8 lane bowling alley clearly intended to replace the facilities on Leisure Way . Despite huge resident opposition and not just from the usual NIMBY brigade the Labour Group voted the application through . 

So what has changed between the Committiee meetings held to determine Edgware Towers and Lodge Lane and the Committee meetings held to determine Leisure Way and High Barnet Underground ?

Well several answers to that . First the "Chair" of Stategic Planning the aforementioned Councillor Young has gone on the "Chicken run" abandoning his Childs Hill Ward which is looking like a probable Conservative Gain and getting selected to replace the ailing Councillor Cooke in Woodhouse Ward in North Finchley which surprise , surprise contains the Leisure Way Development and vast numbers of objectors .

Secondly local Labour Members of Parliament are getting increasingly jittery about trying to hold their seats in the light of the huge unpopularity of their Government and Prime Minister . Hence Sarah Sackmen wrote a letter , she was far too busy to turn up in person and address the Planning Committee, objecting to Leisure Way . It was a very very long letter ! 

Third and foremost the Labour Party in Barnet have woken up to the fact (reinforced bythe collapse in the Labour vote in the recent Hendon Ward byelection )  that they are possibly facing wipe out in May 2026 Local elections ( 1968 all over again for those of you with long memories ) from a combination of the Conservatives , Reform and even the mad Greens and are now backtracking on the desperatley unpopular "Build baby build " strategy .

So what happens now ?

Well of course these two developments go to the Mayor of London who can use his powers to direct Barnet Council to grant Planning permission . I would put my pension on the fact  that he will do just that but probably not before the Council elections in May in order to spare Barnet Labour Group blushes . 

So what is the point of Barnet Council Strategic Planning Committee ? You may well ask !