It was meant to be a historic moment for the residents and businesses of Enfield – the withdrawal from Labour’s flagship New Towns programme. [some emphasis, links added]
Alessandro Georgiou, the newly elected Conservative council leader, had campaigned on a platform of protecting the green belt in the North London borough from plans to build 21,000 new homes.
And just a day after wrestling back Tory control of the council following 16 years of Labour rule, his minority-led administration appeared to duly deliver.
“We have been elected to protect Enfield’s green belt,” he wrote to Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, on May 27, “and today we are honouring that commitment by formally withdrawing from the new town process.”
For dozens of independent businesses in the Crews Hill area, which had been earmarked for redevelopment under the scheme, the general feeling was one of pure elation.
Crews Hill, on the border of Hertfordshire, is known for its green spaces and “golden mile” of garden centers and nurseries.
“Everybody was over the moon,” says Trevor Wyllie, 61, who has run the Enfield Bird Centre for 38 years and feared his shop would face the wrecking ball under Labour’s proposals. “The businesses around here aren’t pop-ups; they’ve been here for decades.”
But just 14 miles south, the Mayor of London had other ideas.
Sir Sadiq Khan’s office quickly responded to the withdrawal by insisting it would seek to continue pursuing plans for a new town in the area regardless.
“Crews Hill and other sites in the borough represent a significant opportunity to deliver sustainable, high-quality neighbourhoods,” a City Hall spokesman said. “Alongside the Government, we will continue to work closely with councillors in Enfield to further develop plans.”
They did not rule out the option of stripping planning decision-making from the council and handing it to Sir Sadiq and his officials.
Sir Keir Starmer also weighed in, naming Enfield specifically, and saying the Government would not give in to “the naysayers and the blockers” and would “get Britain building again”.
For the first major new towns scheme since the 1970s, it does not bode well. …snip…
Local elections last month gave voters a chance to voice their frustrations at the Government’s performance – nearly 1,500 Labour councillors were unseated across the UK.
In Enfield, it resulted in 31 Conservative councillors, 27 Labour, and five Green members elected.
“Labour had a very willing and cooperative council that was prepared to give up Enfield for development,” says Carol Fisk, of local group Action for Enfield’s Future.
“But then 77pc of voters voted for parties that opposed the new town.
“If the Mayor of London now goes ahead saying ‘we don’t care, we’re going to build on it anyway’, then that doesn’t sound like democracy to me – that’s autocracy.”
Read rest at The Telegraph
