Enfield withdraws support for 21,000 new town proposal 

Enfield Council has withdrawn support for proposals to deliver 21,000 new homes at Crews Hill and Chase Park in north London.  

The project was selected for the government’s new towns programme in March, alongside six other locations across England.  

The New Towns programme has been described by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century and is intended as a step to support the government’s target to build 1.5 million homes during this parliament. 

According to The Guardian, Enfield’s withdrawal follows a change in political control at the council, with the new minority Conservative-led administration no longer backing the proposals. The Conservatives had pledged during the local election campaign to halt the new town development if they took control of the authority. 

The proposed development would have included new homes, shops, schools and services such as doctors’ surgeries on green belt land currently occupied by several garden centres and family-run businesses. 

Conservative councillor Alessandro Georgiou, who was elected leader of the council’s minority administration, has written to housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook to confirm that the council no longer supports proposals to develop land at Crews Hill and other parts of the borough’s green belt. 

In his letter, Georgiou said the council would continue to work with the government to deliver new homes and jobs in the borough but would focus on brownfield sites and town centre regeneration. 

Enfield Council owns just under a third of the land in the borough, while other land earmarked for the proposed development belongs to private landowners. Nina Barnes, who owns the Culver garden centre site at Crews Hill, told The Guardian that most private landowners did not want to sell. 

Barnes said she welcomed the council’s decision with a “great sense of relief,” adding that the plans had created uncertainty for businesses operating on her site. 

An MHCLG spokesperson said the national new towns programme would “restore the dream of home ownership for people across the country,” adding that the government had recently consulted local people on the proposals and would respond in due course. 

Planning changes proposed to safeguard schools and community assets 

The government has launched a new consultation on proposed changes to permitted development rights, covering schools, community buildings, defence sites and environmental delivery. 

Permitted development rights allow certain types of building work and changes of use to be carried out without applying for planning permission. This allows specific works to take place without the need to submit a full planning application to a local authority. 

Under the proposals, schools would be given greater flexibility to put up temporary buildings on school land without needing to go through the full planning application process. The government says this would help schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, commonly known as RAAC, avoid planning delays while carrying out works to restore classrooms and facilities. 

The consultation also proposes removing buildings listed as assets of ‘community value’, such as youth centres and community halls, from the permitted development right that allows certain buildings to be demolished without consulting local people. 

According to the government, the change would give these buildings similar exclusion rights to pubs, building on wider efforts to strengthen community value schemes. 

As part of the same package, the consultation proposes simplifying permitted development rights to support housing for more military personnel on closed defence sites. It also includes a new planning rule to support the delivery of conservation measures by Natural England through forthcoming Environmental Delivery Plans. 

Communities Secretary Steve Reed said: “Our planning changes will mean schools can work quickly to provide RAAC-free classrooms with minimal delays.” 

He added that the public should have “the power to protect cherished buildings at risk of demolition.” 

The consultation brings together a range of proposed amendments to how permitted development rights apply across different sites and building types. The measures cover temporary school buildings, assets of community value, military accommodation on closed defence sites and conservation measures linked to future Environmental Delivery Plans. 

The consultation will be open for 8 weeks, with further details available on the government’s website. 

Environmental charities warn proposed NPPF changes could weaken protections 

Environmental and heritage charities have raised concerns that proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework could lead to weaker environmental protections and more poorly located development. 

The Better Planning Coalition raised the concerns in a letter to the Prime Minister and the Housing Secretary ahead of final decisions on a revised National Planning Policy Framework expected this summer. 

The coalition includes organisations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Woodland Trust, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and other conservation bodies. 

Proposed changes to the NPPF introduce new national decision-making policies and allow for further streamlining in favour of development, particularly on housing. The coalition said the changes could allow the National Planning Policy Framework to override local authorities adopted Local Plans and narrow the circumstances in which local planning decisions can reject development. 

It has also questioned whether loosening planning rules will increase housing delivery at a time when private housebuilding activity is falling. The letter cites Office for National Statistics figures showing that private housebuilding activity in March was nearly 5% lower than 12 months earlier. 

The coalition warned that, with major housebuilders scaling back schemes because of higher costs and weak demand, increasing land supply through planning liberalisation could shift development towards more profitable green belt sites. It said these are often in poorly connected locations with fewer environmental safeguards. 

The group’s recommendations include reversing changes it says would weaken environmental assessment and biodiversity protections, ensuring the mitigation hierarchy informs location decisions for housing and infrastructure, prioritising social and genuinely affordable housing and suspending the housing delivery test. 

It has also called for a review of the standard method for calculating housing targets, with a greater focus on densification and protecting green belt and heritage sites. The coalition also wants community engagement and co-production to be embedded in new Local Plans, including through a dedicated chapter in the National Planning Policy Framework. 

Runnymede Council approves 96 grey belt homes despite design concerns 

Runnymede Borough Council has approved plans for 96 homes on land in Egham that is now classified as grey belt. 

The proposals were approved despite objections over the design of some homes. Councillor Elaine Gill described two blocks within the scheme as “ugly” and compared them to a prison cell block, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. 

The scheme, located at Clockhouse Lane East, was approved by the council’s planning committee in June.  

According to the BBC, the application is the first in Runnymede to be classified as grey belt, a term used for parts of the green belt that have previously been developed or do not strongly contribute to green belt purposes. 

The site was formerly protected as green belt land, but is no longer covered by that designation following recent changes to planning laws. 

Residents also raised concerns that some of the homes would be used as acoustic barriers for the adjoining M25 motorway. Gill said she understood the reason for using the homes in this way, but said the proposal made her concerned. 

Planning officers acknowledged that noise levels in some gardens would be above recommended levels. However, the committee was told that double glazing would prevent noise from entering the homes. 

The committee was also told that rules designed to prevent towns such as Chertsey and Egham from merging do not apply to Thorpe or Virginia Water. 

The approved development will include affordable housing, with half of the overall project set to be delivered as affordable homes. Developers will also make £300,000 in community contributions as part of the scheme.