Issue - meetings

Council is asked to agree the Local Plan.

Cllr Nesil Caliskan moved, and Cllr Ergin Erbil seconded, the report.

The Leader stated that the Local Plan has been through six years of consultation, exploration and engagement and sets out the future intentions for the borough and how this will be achieved. The aim being to make Enfield a greener, vibrant, and well-connected borough where its young people will have a place of their own to call home.

In 2019, there was a 12-week consultation exceeding the minimum statutory requirement with local groups and the draft plan was agreed in 2021. Since then, the administration has honoured their commitment to deliver a pre-publication period that has allowed residents and councillors to read the final plan before it goes out to an additional statutory consultation and a review by the National Planning Inspector before it can be implemented.

By 2041, the population of Enfield will have grown by more than 50,000 people as people are living longer, and our young people today will have families of their own. If the demand for housing continues to rise without adequate housing being available, people will be forced to move out of the borough; additionally overpriced and overcrowded housing was becoming more prominent. The Local Plan allows the Council to control how this growth in the borough will occur.

The Leader acknowledged that there is no easy way to deal with the housing crisis as even if every brownfield site were exhausted, there would still not be enough supply to meet targets. The loss of green belt land will be compensated by major landscape restoration and a new country park which will improve public access in Enfield Chase, with a commitment to a 25% increase in green coverage by 2041. By using a limited amount of green belt which would be namely; disused carparks, garden centres and golf courses, would equate to adequate space to build affordable family homes which will see the sites better utilised to address the national housing crisis. The Crews Hill site will enable  5000 new homes to be built whilst Chase Park will have 3700 new homes built with both sites gaining crucial infrastructure, being close to transport links and access to gardens and public spaces with opportunities to walk and cycle through connected habitats and landscape corridors.

The Administration has provided a clear steer to officers that the Council must have a Local Plan that meets housing needs. The process to produce this plan has been meticulously detailed with an immense level of dedication and will produce a plan that is technically sound. The Leader expressed concerns by not having an up-to-date Local Plan leaves the Council open to the risk of developers putting in planning applications anywhere in the borough which will be agreed by the National Inspector due to the current framework being out of date.

The Leader expressed thanks to the Planning department, officers, elected members and residents who contributed and were involved with the development of the Local Plan.

The Opposition expressed concerns  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7