Fears over housing delivery after two planning committee meetings cancelled in a row, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

Enfield Council has not held a planning committee for months despite failing to meet housing targets.

Housing campaign group Better Homes Enfield warned the committee’s failure in recent months to approve any new schemes could slow the rate of housebuilding in the borough. The Conservative group’s planning lead Mike Rye, who also sits on the committee, has branded the situation a “shambles”.

In response the council has claimed housebuilding rates are rising and insisted the lack of meetings would not affect its ability to meet targets.

The civic centre’s planning committee last met on 13th December. A meeting scheduled for Tuesday (21st) did not go ahead. The next scheduled meeting is due to take place on 7th March – nearly three months after the last.

Figures published last year revealed Enfield only reached 67% of its target for 2,650 new homes during the previous three years, meaning the council must apply a “presumption in favour of sustainable development” and give more weight to applications to build new housing.

Matt Burn, from Better Homes Enfield, said the failure to hold meetings could be “slowing up housebuilding” because homes on major schemes cannot be built without first being discussed by the committee.

Pointing out that minutes of meetings from as long ago as September had still not been approved, Matt asked how councillors could be expected to accurately recall what was discussed four to six months previously. Those meetings included controversial decisions such as the approval of several tall tower blocks with single staircases at Meridian Water and the second deferral of the 21-storey ‘Tepe Tower’ planned for a site next to Brimsdown Station.

Cllr Rye claimed that the January meeting was cancelled at chair Sinan Boztas’ instruction because there were only two items of business to be dealt with. “I was not consulted,” said Cllr Rye. “It is normally courtesy to do so.”

Cllr Boztas declined to comment on this accusation.

Cllr Rye also claimed the February committee meeting had been cancelled because the council’s planning department missed the deadline set by democratic services for publishing its reports and that the issue was now being investigated. The Conservative former council leader added that the meeting could still have gone ahead and, if he had been consulted, he would have offered advice on how to do so.

A council spokesperson said: “Planning meeting dates, including provisional dates, are held in advance to assist members with their diary planning, but on occasion the meetings are cancelled or rescheduled if there are no or not enough items to report. Occasionally there are procedural matters where, after officers’ advice, the meeting does not proceed. This is not unusual, and all members understand this as a standard part of the management of council meetings.

“The majority of planning committee meetings proceed as scheduled, and while the last two meetings in January and February have been cancelled, only two applications were on the agenda, of which only one involved new housing. While this means the two applications will be determined later than initially scheduled, a decision at the next meeting will not affect the council’s ability to meet housing delivery targets. In fact, housing delivery in the borough has been increasing over the past year.”

Editor’s note

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Enfield Council had been placed in ‘special measures’ for failing to meet housing targets. Although it has failed to meet housing targets, it is not correct that the council is in special measures.

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