Government defends 'new town' consultation as deadline looms

Campaign groups in Enfield have submitted an official complaint over the consultation while more than 3,000 people have also now signed a letter to the prime minister, reports James Cracknell

More than 3,000 letters opposing the Enfield ‘new town’ are set to be delivered to Downing Street – as local groups also submit an official complaint to government over a “lack of information” in the public consultation.

A coalition of residents’ groups called Action for Enfield’s Future (AfEF) has spent the past few weeks encouraging local people to sign an open letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, calling on him to withdraw his government’s support for a 21,000-home development on Metropolitan Green Belt land at Crews Hill and an area of farmland dubbed ‘Chase Park’.

The number of people signing copies of the letter has now surpassed 3,000 and these will all be delivered by hand to 10 Downing Street next month.

In the meantime, the government’s public consultation on its new towns programme – which also includes six other shortlisted sites across the country – is set to end at 11.59pm tonight (Tuesday 19^th).

However, AfEF and other concerned groups have sent an official letter of complaint to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) over their “serious concerns” about the way the consultation has been conducted.

The letter states: “We do not consider that the consultation, as currently designed and timed, complies with the government’s own Consultation Principles.

“We are also concerned that the consultation does not meet the wider public law requirements of fair consultation.

“A fair consultation should take place when proposals are still at a formative stage, provide enough information to allow intelligent consideration and response, allow adequate time for responses, and ensure that responses are conscientiously considered before any final decision is made.

“In particular, we are concerned that the consultation fails to meet the requirements that consultations should be informative, should take account of the groups being consulted, should be properly targeted, and should not generally be launched during local or national election periods.”

As well as AfEF, the letter is signed by representatives of Better Homes Enfield, Enfield RoadWatch, Enfield Climate Action Forum, The Enfield Society and Hadley Wood Neighbourhood Planning Forum.

Better Homes Enfield also posted a blog earlier this month slamming the plans for the new town as “too vague” and the consultation as “premature”.

The government has previously indicated that there will be further rounds of consultation once specific proposals for Crews Hill and Chase Park are made public.

Asked this week for a response to the complaint letter, a MHCLG spokesperson said: “Our landmark new towns will restore the dream of home ownership in Enfield and across the country.

“We’ve been clear that community voices will continue to shape how any new towns are built throughout the process.”

At this month’s local election, more than 77% of voters backed parties that pledged to “protect the Green Belt”.

However, a new council administration has yet to emerge, with the Conservatives falling just short of a majority and needing support from at least one of the five new Green Party councillors to take power at Enfield Civic Centre.

Next week, a full council meeting will take place on Wednesday, 27^th May, at which a new council leader, cabinet and mayor will all need to be voted on by the 63 councillors elected earlier this month.

Both the Labour-led government and Labour administration at Enfield Civic Centre have enthusiastically backed the new town plans, with the council having also spent several years prior to the new town announcement trying to de-designate large areas of Green Belt land in the borough for housebuilding, via a new Enfield Local Plan document.

However, the council failed to get the Local Plan adopted prior to the election, and it remains to be seen what might happen to the major strategic planning document should a new minority Conservative administration take power next week.

Take part in the public consultation on the government’s new towns programme before the deadline at 11.59pm on Tuesday, 19th May:
Visit gov.uk/government/consultations/new-towns-draft-programme

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