Whalebones, the private estate on Wood Street administered by the Gwyneth Cowing Charitable Trust, was the subject of a major planning application in July 2019, for 152 dwellings. In spite of a recommendation for approval from Council planning officers, this was refused by the Planning Committee in October 2020 in a close contest which required the Chair's casting vote. The developers lost a subsequent appeal. A revised application is now expected shortly, to incorporate changes described in recent publicity distributed locally by Hill Residential and shown here. These include a reduction in homes to 114, some apartments becoming 2/3 bedroomed houses and properties pushed back from the boundaries along Wood Street and Collison Avenue.
This area is included in the Local Council Plan for partial development so the developers may be pushing on an open door. A campaign against development can be expected though perhaps not as vigorous as that conducted previously which was headed up by local Chipping Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers.
Whalebones Flyer (pdf) (861kb)