Highgate Residents Challenge Muswell Hill over 'Ownership' of Queens Wood in bid to limit Development in 'Village'

In an ambitious submission for a neighbourhood plan, a group of Highgate residents have claimed Queen's Wood as their own.  

Highgate is the latest area of London to submit a bid to set up a neighbourhood forum. If successful this would give local residents more influence over planning decisions in Highgate. It would join Crouch End to become the second area of Haringey to have set up a forum.

The Crouch End forum undertook an extensive mapping exercise and came up with what I thought was by and large a very sensible and uncontentious set of boundaries. However, the Highgate Plan is being criticised for its expansionist aims. A lifetime Muswell Hiller, who prefers to remain anonymous, told HoL, "Whilst Queen's Wood is roughly equidistant between Highgate and Muswell Hill town centres, it's always been part of Muswell Hill. I'll be damned if we're going to hand it over to the lot on the hill".

The Highgate plan aims to "influence the quality and quantity of development within Highgate", an area they describe as having "a high level of social diversity". Key amongst the challenges they feel the area faces are "maintaining a ‘real’ place to live" and "protecting Highgate’s special character".

Harringay Online has suggested to both camps that any disagreements are settled with an inter-'village' conker fight within the disputed woods - winner takes all. One resident, rumoured to be 'well-placed' at Channel 4 has suggested a Queen's Wood Challenge Bake-off to settle the matter.

See more about the submission on their website at www.highgateneighbourhoodforum.org.uk.