Hadley Wood campaigners celebrate as Green Belt fields are spared
A planning inspector has ruled that grazing land earmarked for housing by the previous Labour administration must be protected from development
Campaigners in Hadley Wood are celebrating after a planning inspector recommended that an area of Green Belt be kept as open fields rather than built on.
The verdict came on Monday 15th, when government-appointed inspector Steven Lee delivered his long-awaited findings on the Enfield Local Plan, a strategic planning document developed over the past eight years under the borough's former Labour administration.
The draft plan had set aside a greenfield grazing site to the west of Hadley Wood Station for 160 new homes. Following a lengthy public examination, Lee concluded that taking the land out of the Metropolitan Green Belt would cause significant harm to the character of the area and could not be legally justified.
The site is owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. Two local figures, David Harbott of the Hadley Wood Neighbourhood Planning Forum and Robert Wilson, chair of the Hadley Wood Association, both submitted evidence to the examination arguing against development.
Harbott said the forum was "delighted" with the outcome, calling it a win for the whole community and the thousands of residents who had backed the campaign. He voiced lasting frustration that the former
Labour council had pushed ahead with what he described as an opportunistic proposal from a wealthy landowner, despite evidence that the site, in an area with some of the poorest public transport access in Greater London and limited local services, was unsuitable for housing.
He urged the Duchy to work with the community to open the fields up for everyone to enjoy.
Wilson echoed the relief, describing the fields as exceptional Green Belt at the heart of Hadley Wood and part of the local conservation area.
He said the "Save Our Green Belt Campaign" had finally succeeded after years of effort across multiple consultations and the long examination process, during which, he claimed, the previous council had repeatedly ignored overwhelming resident objections.
The inspector, he added, had accepted the campaign's central argument that the harm caused by removing the land far outweighed the modest benefit of 160 homes.
Wilson praised the joint effort of the Hadley Wood Association and the Neighbourhood Planning Forum, along with the many volunteers who coordinated objections across the area and helped raise the funds needed to bring in planning experts for the appeal.
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