Local residents’ groups were left ‘high and dry’ when a long planned meeting with GLA Member Nicky Gavron failed to happen. Scheduled to have started at 6.30pm, Ms Gavron failed to attend, despite the meeting being confirmed with her office on the day. The move was a blow to local campaign groups in Hornsey, who had hoped for progress in the battle against the overdevelopment of the area and the protection of precious ‘backland’ sites.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“This was extremely disappointing for the representatives who took the trouble to finish work early to attend the meeting. Hornsey has been facing a rash of planning applications and local residents have devoted thousands of unpaid hours to defend their community. It is hugely regrettable that one of their elected representatives treats them in this way.”

The meeting had been called by Lib Dem Planning Spokesman David Winskill to discuss why Crouch End and Hornsey seem to have such little protection against the whims of developers and why social infrastructure is lagging so far behind.

Ms Gavron fielded a GLA Officer instead to answer a barrage of questions from the group. He did his best to explain the Mayor’s Plan – written by Cllr Gavron when Deputy Mayor.

Veteran campaigner Chris Warburton seemed unconvinced that Haringey’s UDP was being taken seriously in light of the Mayor’s plan for 19,100 new homes for Haringey. “We seem to be going hell for leather for homes at the expense of good design, employment and the environment,” he said. “Little I heard at the meeting causes me to change this view.”

One surprise piece of news from the meeting was that the GLA is coming round to Haringey’s assertion that the housing target set by the GLA is grossly unrealistic. The officer agreed that it could be wrong by a factor of “4,000 to 5,000.”

Cllr David Winskill (Liberal Democrat, Crouch End) welcomed this, saying that it could take the pressure off the Planning Department when evaluating planning applications. He asked the Officer to draft a letter for Cllr Gavron to Haringey setting this out and reminding them of the central role of the UDP when assessing applications. He commented:

“People’s confidence in the planning system is at its lowest for years. Usually reasonable people have become enraged at a system that is loaded in favour of the developers. We understand the importance of structured change but what we are seeing is a free for all. The consequences will be with us for generations.”