Evidence from developers, local groups, experts and council officials has been heard over 27 hearing dates throughout this year, reports James Cracknell

Enfield Civic Centre and (inset) planning inspector Steven Lee

The inspector charged with determining whether Enfield Council’s new Local Plan is “sound” has wrapped up the third stage of public hearings – while leaving open the possibility there could still be more to come.

Steven Lee, who was appointed last year by the government’s Planning Inspectorate to examine the Local Plan in public, has overseen a mammoth process of hearing evidence from various stakeholders – over 27 examination days – on the 585-page document’s various polices and site allocations. Those contributing have included developers, local groups and experts as well as the council’s own strategic planning team and barrister.

In his closing remarks at Enfield Civic Centre last Wednesday (12^th), Lee thanked everyone for their contributions and said that they had “followed the rules” better than in any other examination he had presided over.

The next stage of the process is for a series of “main modifications” to the plan to be agreed between the council and the inspector, after which point a final round of public consultation will take place. If “issues arise from the consultation”, Lee said, he may still require further public hearings so they can be “dealt with”.

However, he seemed to suggest this was unlikely.

The new Enfield Local Plan sets out where the council wishes to see tens of thousands of new homes built, as well as employment and burial space, between now and 2041. It has been several years in the making, having previously gone out for public consultation in 2021 and 2024.

After being submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in August 2024 for assessment – to ensure it complies with the government’s own National Planning Policy Framework – the first stage of public hearings took place in January and looked at broad issues such as housing targets and the Metropolitan Green Belt.

The big news at this stage was the “bombshell” announcement from City Hall that Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan was set to U-turn on his previous opposition to building on the Green Belt – which seemingly came as a major boost to Enfield Council’s own desire to allocate 9,651 homes on four Green Belt sites in the borough.

The second stage of hearings, held between June and August, dug into the detail of particular site allocations. There were individual sessions dedicated to discussing the Green Belt sites at Hadley Wood, the A10, Crews Hill and ‘Chase Park‘, better known locally as Vicarage Farm.

The Crews Hill session saw the council admit that it intended to issue compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to any businesses which refuse to sell their land to developers – sparking controversy over the loss of the area’s “golden mile” for garden centres.

There was also a session on Meridian Water in Edmonton, during which the council admitted that it didn’t currently have a plan for how it would meet its 10,000 homes target, instead allocating 6,700 homes for the area in the Local Plan. This number was later increased to around 7,400, however, after it was pointed out during the hearing that some smaller sites had been omitted.

Ahead of the third stage of hearings starting in October, the government dropped its own bombshell on the Local Plan examination when it announced that both Crews Hill and Chase Park were now set to form a ‘new town’ of at least 21,000 homes – more than doubling the site allocations in the Local Plan.

Despite this, the government instructed councils such as Enfield to proceed with their plan processes regardless, as “nothing is set in stone”.

The third stage looked at policies on issues such as tall buildings, the economy, climate change and biodiversity. In another discussion on Meridian Water, around its industrial sites, the council admitted that a strategic water main was now providing a further obstacle to building new homes.

In his closing remarks, Lee explained what will happen next with the drawing up of “main modifications” and said: “If, during this process, I find it necessary again – in the interest of fairness and transparency – to share any additional information, then I will. That might be, for example, if in going through things I suddenly have a eureka moment and think, ah, there’s something new that I’ve not raised before with anybody and that’s not in the public domain, [then] I’ll probably write to the council to make it clear that that is the case.”

After the final consultation on modifications to the Local Plan, likely taking place early next year, Lee said that his “preference” was to “proceed straight to issuing my report”.

He added: “But the process does allow for me to, again, have additional hearing sessions if issues arise from the consultation that need to be dealt with.”

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.