Up to 900-home neighbourhood at Land To The West Of Barnet Road, Potters Bar

“Bloor Homes Outline application (with all matters reserved except for means of access) for a new neighbourhood comprising up to 900 dwellings (Use Class C3) (including affordable housing), a neighbourhood centre and community facilities (Use Class E (a), Class E (e) and F2 (b), a primary school (Use Class F1 (a)), land for an up to 80-bed care home (Use Class C2), strategic and informal open space, landscaping, parking, associated infrastructure and works, with vehicle and…”

“Members had concerns regarding traffic and congestion to the local area. They asked how traffic and Highways impacts were measured. The Highways Authority representative explained that trip generation was agreed upon in comparison to similar sites. This was then tested against current network traffic, specifically against local junctions likely to be affected. Modelling then would have taken place based on this.”

“Members maintained concerns regarding the Grey Belt assessment and the opinion of Legal Counsel. The landscape impact and the loss of agricultural land were seen as harms they viewed to outweigh the benefits of provision of housing. The Assistant Director of Legal & Democratic Services explained that although the legal opinion received was a legally privileged document, a summary had been given which confirmed that the officers’ grey belt assessment was robust.”

“[name withheld] spoke against the application on behalf of ‘Have your say’ residents’ campaign.”

“Councillor C Myers spoke as Community Advocate against the application.”

“It was proposed by: Councillor G Briski, seconded by Councillor B Rosehill that the application be REFUSED on all grounds; based on harm to the Green Belt, harms to landscape, flood risk, and loss of agricultural land. Based on these harms, there were no Very Special Circumstances, thus it was inappropriate development on the Green Belt which should be refused.”

“RESOLVED that the application be REFUSED on all grounds; that the harms to the Green Belt, landscape, flood risk and loss of agricultural land outweighed the benefits. Therefore, the application was not Grey Belt and there were no Very Special Circumstances to justify a grant of planning permission in the Green Belt.”