Concerns have been raised over parking, wildlife, and a lack of affordable homes, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

The Beech Road garages site (left) and (right) the plans for new homes (credit Stephen Davy Peter Smith Architects)

A decision on a proposed 20-home scheme in Bowes Park has been delayed due to concerns of “overdevelopment” and a lack of affordable housing.

Developer Beechcastle Ltd submitted an application to Enfield Council to build four blocks with 19 flats and one four-bedroom house on the site of disused garages next to a railway line.

Officers recommended the scheme between Beech Road and Goring Road for approval at a planning committee meeting on Tuesday (25th), but committee member Kate Anolue expressed concern over a lack of parking spaces, and there were also questions about the scheme having no affordable housing, ecological impacts and privacy issues.

Conservative committee member Michael Rye seconded Cllr Anolue’s counter-motion to defer a decision until a site visit could be arranged.

The development would be car-free, except for two disabled parking bays, but due to the area not having a controlled parking zone (CPZ) concerns were raised that the residents would park on the nearby streets.

Cllr Anolue said: “What guarantees do we have that someone who will live there won’t have a car? Yes, we’re trying to deter people from using cars and to walk or cycle instead but sometimes that’s not possible.

“Also I do think there’s overdevelopment here, residents have mentioned privacy concerns, we have to look at this area and really think about what these plans will look like.”

The site currently features a row of 27 garages which are set to be demolished if the plan is approved.

Mike Hoyland, senior transport planner, said that based on a census of the local area “on average 50% of the properties in the area did not have a vehicle”.

He said: “We looked at potentially ten vehicles being owned by residents in this development, and we can probably set that a bit lower given there’s a lot of one-bedroom units in the development, there’s nine one-beds.

“So we’re not looking at high car ownership.”

Mike also pointed out Bowes Park Station was approximately a five-minute walk from the development, which will also feature a 250-metre footpath that would “directly link to the station”.

In lieu of any affordable housing, the scheme will make a payment of £50,751 towards affordable house building elsewhere in the borough.

Architect Stephen Davy, from Stephen Davy Peter Smith Architects, representing the applicant, said: “We’re making a contribution, it was checked by the council’s independent viability consultant and that was the figure arrived at, so we just left that to them, and that’s where they felt the correct figure was.”

According to a council summary of sites of importance for nature conservation (Sincs), published in 2020, the stretch of railsides from Crews Hill Station in the north and Bowes Park Station just to the south of the site was a “continuous green corridor”.

Around twelve local residents objecting to the plan attended the meeting.

Beech Road resident Madeline Church challenged council officer Karolina Grebowiec-Hall, who had said only the “southern most end of the site is within a site of borough interest for nature conservation”.

The Sinc document states: “This is considered to be a significant ecological corridor providing valuable habitat for wildlife to forage, shelter and disperse to habitats in the wider area.”

The report concluded the site should “continue to be designated as a borough grade Sinc”.

Matthew Pierce, a Goring Road resident, said the blocks would cause the nearest properties to “suffer from severely reduced sunlight levels”.

Karolina said three windows on the ground floor of 1-3 Beech Road, and three windows on the ground floor of 2 Beech Road would “lose approximately half of their currently visible sky”.

Matthew explained 1 Beech Road was a ground floor flat and this change could motivate the residents to pursue “legal remedies”.

The proposal will now be deferred to a later committee date following a site visit.

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