There is some important information you should be aware of regarding this development. You should know that it is a highly accessible site, the design responds well to the immediate context, the height and massing similarly respond well to the surrounding environment with no visual harm to the townscape, and the loss of the car park will promote more sustainable travel with no pedestrian, highway or safety concerns.
To be clear, these are not our words, but words used by GLA officials advising the Deputy Mayor Jules Pike yesterday when he reviewed the decision by Barnet’s Strategic Planning Committee to refuse this application. After considering written representations and listening to spoken representations from a Council planner, BRA, Barnet Society, Councillor David Longsfaff and former MP Teresa Villiers, Mr Pike decided to overturn the Council decision.
Many people are appalled that, with TfL in partnership with the developer, The GLA should have been allowed to adjudicate on a scheme in which it has an evident interest. The argument allowing this is that Mr Pike has no direct responsibility in running TfL. But his boss the Mayor, as Chairman of TfL, clearly has. To put it mildly, this is a very thin ‘Chinese Wall’.
We are dismayed both with the process and the outcome. It is not good for local democracy. And the development will not be good for the town, for station users, nor for the people who may end up living in this dismal location.
Gordon Massey, BRA Planning consultant