Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers has welcomed planners refusing another attempt to place high-rise housing at the Victoria Quarter development.
Barnet Council’s Strategic Planning Committee said no to One Housing and Fairview’s amended proposals for seven-storey buildings at the old gasworks site in New Barnet.
The developers had put in another application following unanimous refusal by the planning committee in 2020 for blocks ten storeys high.
Theresa has been working with local people and Save New Barnet for more than ten years to get the right development at the site in Albert Road.
She attended the committee on Tuesday in Hendon Town Hall to object to the latest plans and said they were contrary to a host of local and capital-wide planning policies.
“Although the height of the tallest tower blocks has been lowered from ten to seven storeys and there has been a minor reduction in the number of units, this would still be a deeply damaging over-development,” she said.
“The height and density of the buildings would be highly detrimental to the character of the surrounding neighbourhood
“These are completely out of place in a low-rise Victorian suburb with a distinctive character, next to Metropolitan Open Space and green belt land.”
Theresa added that 78% of the flats were not the larger family homes needed in the borough, and she added: “One Housing should build out the plans for which they already have consent granted in 2017. These were the result of years of extensive community engagement.
“They would deliver new homes in a sustainable way in tune with the local neighbourhood.”
Theresa also spoke at the committee to object to a proposal for Barnet House in Whetstone that was also rejected.
Developers wanted to add two storeys to a 12-storey office block, convert it to flats and build a new apartment block to the rear. A similar application was refused in 2018.
In her speech, Theresa said Barnet House was already an eyesore: “Like its predecessor, this scheme is excessive and discordant with the character of the area. It would be an overdevelopment. The reduction in the number of parking spaces from 115 to 58 would intensify parking pressure on local roads.”
