Local Liberal Democrats have expressed concern over an expected joint planning application made by Haringey Council and a housing developer.

At this week’s Overview & Scrutiny meeting, the Executive Member for Children’s Services revealed that the Council’s plans to build a new 6th form centre for the London Borough of Haringey on land in White Hart Lane purchased from North Middlesex University had fallen through. The university is now planning to sell the land to a housing developer instead.

He then explained that Haringey Council had agreed in principle to purchase part of this land from the new buyer, to enable plans for a 6th form centre to go ahead. However, the agreement with the developer is that a joint planning application for the housing and 6th form centre will be submitted.

Cllr Matt Davies (Lib Dem, Fortis Green), a member of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, questioned whether such a deal was appropriate:

“The provision of educational facilities and housing are two of the key challenges facing Haringey, and hopefully these two projects will prove to be a success on both fronts,” says Cllr Davies. “However, these should not be inextricably linked. But Haringey Council has agreed to purchase land from the new owner on the basis of a joint planning application and one will not happen without the other.

“I am worried that this will not be seen to be an open and fair process. The need for the Council to provide new educational facilities is such that councillors could feel themselves under pressure to accept this joint application – even if they feel there are problems with the housing part.

“With luck, plans for both the centre and the housing will be perfect and a problem will not arise. But if objections to the housing are made then I am concerned that because of this arrangement the public will see it as a stitch-up, rightly or wrongly.”