UPDATE: Huge Swathes of Harringay to be Developed

Further to my post last week, I gritted my teeth last night, put on a brave face and got myself off to the Harringay & St Ann's Area Forum. Part of this meeting was given over to an explanation and Q&A of the plans to develop our part of the borough over the next 20 years.

My aim in attending was to better understand what is planned and the status of the current plans. I'm not sure that I got the complete picture, but I'm certainly better informed. I provide my understanding of this issue below.

What the Plans are about

The current plans are fundamental to how our area will change and develop over the coming 20 years. Make no mistake about it; what gets agreed in these plans will amount to an unchallengeable legal commitment to development. And, these plans are not about fiddling around the edges; they see significant development in our neighbourhood, covering as much as 15-20% of the land area of Harringay. Even if no project affects your road, these plans will affect your neighbourhood.

Where the Plans Come From

As I understand it, a key driver for this planning is top down. The Mayor's London Plan requires Haringey to submit plans to meet certain development targets over the next 20 years. Most particularly, this means housing targets. Haringey has been told that it has to find space for 1,502 new homes each year for the next 20 years.

What the Plans Mean

If the council fails to submit appropriate plans, in effect it concedes all decision-making powers to the Mayor and the Planning Inspectorate. So, as I understand it, the borough's choices are restricted, but there is still some element of choice about where in the borough and in what form development happens.

Once the plans are approved, they commit the Council to what they contain. This means that if planning applications are made in accordance with the plans, the Council is legally obliged to approve them. There will be no second bite of the cherry, no appeals, no representations.

The Council will also be given powers to compulsorily purchase any of the sites included.

So, be warned, once these plans are agreed, that's it; the die is cast.

What's in the Plans 

The Sites Allocation Development Plan Document is the Council's first draft at responding to its statutory duties. It does two things:

The plan includes two types of site:

As I understand it, the essential difference between the two is simply scale. Site Allocations are large developments; Housing Trajectory Sites are smaller housing developments.

Seven places in Harringay are included:

For the site allocations, you can read in the plan what is planned for each place. No narrative is provided at this stage for the housing trajectory sites.

To give you some sense of the scale of change, at Sainsbury's the plan envisages putting the car park underground and developing the site with eight storey housing units. Almost the whole of the Harringay Warehouse district is zoned for development. In this area, the development is likely to be intensive with a high proportion of multi-floor units. These represent huge changes to the physical appearance of the area, as well as to the population size and composition.

What Influence Can we all Have

Not all change is bad. Some will be positive and some will have downsides. As I understand it, these plans are at the broad brush stage. The Council has been given targets, officers have identified places they think are the ones that can be used to meet those targets and have made suggestions on what sort of development might take place on each.

So here's what's to play for, areas we can influence:

As I understand it, at this stage the plans are broad brush and the Council is asking for a broad brush, as well as more specific responses. Last night we were told that if the community feels strongly, the Council will have to look again at its plans.

Still Confused

This is complex stuff. I think I may have hold of one end of a piece of string, but I certainly don't claim to understand the whole shebang.

The formal consultation for this stage of the plans runs until 7th March. If you'd like to learn more there are supposed to be drop-in events coming up at our two local libraries. 

AlternativeIy, we could try something else. I was quite impressed with Steve Kelly, the new Assistant Director for Planning who was at the meeting last night and I suggested a few things to him in a conversation afterwards. Firstly I asked if he'd be prepared to arrange for a limited response online Q&A on HoL (to understand the process and ask questions - not to respond to the consultation). I also asked if it would be possible to arrange for someone to attend an informal meeting locally to respond to questions. Steve seems open to both possibilities. Is anyone interested?

Responding to the Plans

1. Formal Response

• Complete an online survey
• By phone on 020 8489 1479
• By email to ldf@haringey.gov.uk

2. Another Option

If enough people are interested, we could arrange to meet informally, discuss the plans and possibly think about submitting a collective response.

Who's in Charge 

Players appearing for the Council team were:

Cllr Joseph Ejiofor, Cabinet Member for Planning and Enforcement

Stephen Kelly, Asst Director Planning 

Gavin Ball, Planning Policy Officer