Mustafa Cetinkaya is now standing for re-election as an independent candidate after being deselected by the Labour Party, reports James Cracknell

The car caught parked at the address in Bury Street and (inset) Mustafa Cetinkaya — The car caught parking at the address in Bury Street without permission and (inset) Mustafa Cetinkaya

Evidence of a car being parked without planning permission outside the property at the centre of Enfield Labour’s dropped kerb controversy has been obtained by the Dispatch.

Mustafa Cetinkaya quit the Labour Party last year following the scandal surrounding his failed attempts to gain planning permission for the dropped kerb, which would have allowed him to park a car off-street.

Cllr Cetinkaya is now standing for election as an independent candidate in Haselbury ward.

He had originally gained approval from Enfield Council’s planning committee for the dropped kerb outside his Bury Street home in September 2024 – despite the local authority’s own officers warning it would “increase the likelihood of road dangers for all users” because of the lack of space and proximity to a junction.

Several Labour councillors on the committee ignored these safety warnings to vote in favour of the dropped kerb application from their party colleague, but were later accused by Conservative councillors of threatening the “integrity” of the planning process.

After the dropped kerb scandal was reported by the Dispatch, the planning committee was asked by the council’s legal team in April 2025 to reconsider the application, in a highly unusual move.

This resulted in the “unsafe” dropped kerb being rejected by councillors at the second time of asking.

Sinan Boztas, who had been the Labour planning committee chair at the time of the original decision, was removed from his position prior to the second vote on the dropped kerb. Unlike Cllr Cetinkaya, however, Cllr Boztas has been reselected by Enfield Labour and will be contesting Lower Edmonton ward next week.

Following his deselection, Cllr Cetinkaya quit Labour in September 2025, claiming the party was no longer the “voice of working people”.

That same month, the Haselbury councillor’s appeal against the council’s decision on his dropped kerb was dismissed by the government’s Planning Inspectorate.

Setting out his reasons for dismissing Cllr Cetinkaya’s appeal against the council’s refusal to allow his dropped kerb, inspector Chris Couper wrote in his ruling: “Given the volume of traffic, the curvature of the road, and the proximity to a junction, I consider that awkward reversing manoeuvres to or from the site, often between parked cars, would be detrimental to the efficient and free flow of traffic, and would compromise highway safety.”

Despite this, a car was seen parked at the property, off-street, on Monday (27th) – as seen in the image above.

The Dispatch has attempted to contact Cllr Cetinkaya via phone and email before publishing this story, asking if the car belonged to him and whether he had parked it there.

The former Labour councillor and now independent candidate in next week’s election did not respond.

The local election takes place on Thursday, 7th May, with polling stations open from 7am until 10pm. All voters must bring valid photographic ID with them.

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