Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Upwards Development of Wood Green High Road Continues with Tower for M&S Site

After it was rejected by Haringey's Planning Committee a year ago, the planning application for the development of a nine-storey tower on the former M&S site has been approved by the Planning Inspector.

Council planning officers originally recommended the scheme following negotiations which saw the amount of affordable housing increased from just nine per cent. Even that level of affordable homes had been judged “unviable” after an independent assessment conducted for the council, with the increase achieved by reducing profit levels.

Planning committee councillors nevertheless rejected the revised plans by seven votes to four, arguing that the design quality was poor and that the site would be overdeveloped, as well as objecting to the level of affordable housing.

The council’s second grounds for refusal were rejected by the inspector. “There is no doubt that this area is one where comprehensive redevelopment is necessary, both to improve the immediate retail offering, but also to stimulate further investment,” he said. While the nine-storey elements of the development could appear “incongruous” in isolation, the scheme in the context of wider redevelopment plans was “of a high quality that positively responds to the character and appearance of the area,” he added.

Homes will range from one, two and three-bed units across two nine-storey towers, to a limited amount of three-storey townhouses.

Added to the approval of a large eight-storey development on the former BHS site, Wood Green High Road is about to get another significant makeover.

A far cry from the Wood Green High Road of a hundred years ago.

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Permalink Reply by Colinloves on October 23, 2019 at 18:44

Typical Tory government :(

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on October 23, 2019 at 19:35

I don't think this is a party political issue. In fact if you dig around in the last link I provided, you'll see that the Planning Inspectorate was not a Conservative creation. It was set up by a chap called John Burns in 1909:

John Elliot Burns was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics and Battersea. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister.