MP Theresa Villiers has told a public hearing about Barnet’s new Local Plan that setting a target to build 46,000 homes over the next 15 years will “urbanise the suburbs” and should be scrapped.
Theresa took the rare step for an MP to speak in a procedure known as an Examination in Public to make known her opposition to elements of the draft plan.
Two inspectors will decide if the plan published by the council meets national and London planning policies. But there is concern that the inspectors might ask that number of units earmarked to be built in the period up to 2036 be even higher.
The Federation of Barnet Residents Associations and the Barnet Society have also attended the hearing at Hendon Town Hall this week.
In her speech Theresa said: “I fear that the low-rise outer suburban character of my Chipping Barnet constituency will be under threat if the targets in the plan are set at the level proposed or even increased.
“Meeting these new targets would mean a significant uplift in building, compared to recent years, and that has already felt like being under siege, especially in areas such as Whetstone.
“It is hard to see how these numbers can be achieved without the proliferation of blocks of flats in outer suburban areas for which they are wholly inappropriate.”
She explained a key attraction of living in her Chipping Barnet constituency, especially for families, was to get away from the pressures of high-density high-rise urban living.
“I accept the need to build more homes but these must be the right homes in the right places,” she said. “I am deeply worried about the ever-increasing pressure to urbanise the suburbs. I have highlighted this in Parliament and I see it in this draft plan too.”
As well as the 46,000 figure, the plan includes a second, lower, target of 35,460 homes over the 15-year period. This was calculated by an Independent Panel of Inspectors when they considered the London Plan set by the Mayor.
“In my view, the 35,460 number from the London Plan is still too high, but I appreciate that it would probably need intervention by central Government to disapply the London Plan,” she added.
“That is something which I hope might happen, following on from statements made by the Prime Minister during the summer, but we will have to await the new Planning Bill and National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to see if it will.”
She also asked the inspectors to allow a higher level of off-street parking provision for new developments.
“I note that in several places in the draft plan, the council indicates it will promote developments with few or no parking spaces where a shift to public transport use is expected.
“But there is simply no evidence base to say that there will be such a shift,” she said.
Finally, she said the draft plan should not support building over car parks in an area reliant on the car for travel. Theresa has been campaigning for tube station car parks to be saved from developers.
Speaking afterwards, the former Environment Secretary added: “It was important I publicly stated that important elements of this draft Barnet Plan need to be changed if we are the protect our local environment and quality of life in the outer suburbs."
A range of other issues will be considered in the Examination in Public hearings in October and November, including the green belt/open spaces and individual proposals for development.
