Dismore objects to flawed planning consultation over British Library Site, Colindale
Andrew Dismore AM, Labour London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden has today submitted objections to the plans for a massive development on the former British Library site, Colindale.
Mr Dismore said:
“The proposals from what we are allowed to see are bad enough, but it’s outrageous that the Council are refusing to release any information about the proportion of affordable homes in the scheme.
This is one of the most important and key planning considerations, yet they are keeping this part of the plan secret from local people and has not happened before. To my mind, this means the consultation is fatally flawed and probably unlawful. We can only assume that the number of affordable homes being proposed is minimal, and that the council wishes to allow this to go ahead in cahoots with the developers.
In any event, this is yet another massive scheme in an already overdeveloped Colindale. The council should be looking to provide skilled jobs here to replace those that are being lost due to the closure of the library, for example a light industrial use, rather than yet more homes without the infrastructure to support them.
People in Colindale have had enough of these developments and the Council are riding roughshod over the interests of the existing community as though they did not exist and as though their views do not count.
Local people are not irrelevant, and when Labour win the council in May, local residents will be properly consulted on decisions that affect them.”
