Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers has accused Enfield's Labour Council of wrecking the suburbs and badly letting down residents after it approved 351 high-rise flats at Cockfosters tube station car park despite 3000 objections. The meeting took place at the Civic Centre in Silver Street in Enfield on Thursday evening.
Theresa said the plan would ruin the suburban identity of the Cockfosters area, with the four tower blocks between five and 14 storeys to be built right next to Trent Park.
The Enfield planning committee approved the proposals submitted by Grainger plc and Transport for London, despite violation of many of the borough's own planning policies.
The vote was tied but the committee chair gave the casting vote in favour.
“It is devastating that Enfield Council have ignored their own residents’ concerns, and those of my Cockfosters constituents on the Barnet side of the borough boundary,” Theresa said.
“By making this shocking decision, Labour in Enfield have shown they are willing to wreck the suburbs and badly let down residents.
“The density, scale, massing and design of these plans are wholly inconsistent with the pleasant outer suburban character of the neighbourhood. This will be a massive overdevelopment.
“Enfield Council have ignored more than 3000 written objections to this monstrous scheme, they have disregarded the pleas of numerous local groups; they have discounted the views of disabled people who will find it far harder to get on to public transport if they no longer have a realistic chance of parking at their local station.”
The planning committee heard objections from CLARA, East Barnet Residents’ Association, Save Cockfosters, the Federation of Enfield Residents Associations, and from Theresa.
In her speech to the committee, she said: “The building fronting on to the Cockfosters Road is probably the ugliest and most visually intrusive I’ve ever seen proposed in my 16 years as MP.
“The London Plan’s clear that tall buildings should be restricted to suitable designated locations of which Cockfosters is manifestly not one.
“These massive tower blocks would be immensely visually overbearing in relation to the classic 1930s Charles Holden station.
"The Trent Park Conservation Area would be irreparably harmed. These blocks on the ridgeline would be visible for miles around.
“The application fundamentally fails to understand life in the suburbs. It discriminates against vulnerable groups. It would change Cockfosters forever.”
