Andrew Dismore

The sorry story of the lack of parking arrangements  for Barnet  Council’s proposed new office block shows Conservative Barnet Council’s utter contempt for the needs of local residents and the incompetence of their planning process.

Initially, the scheme included just 92 spaces for council officers, rented from the RAF museum. When this plan was recently  rejected at the Planning Committee, the Conservatives  used sleight of hand  to say the decision had to be taken again, adding another 100 ‘virtual’  spaces. ‘Virtual’ because no-one  knows where they will be, as it appears to be a state secret- or maybe the Council doesn’t know itself ?

But with 1200 officers at the North London Business park moving over ( never mind the councillors themselves) of which 73% travel by car, it is clear that this is still woefully inadequate. The Council says it wants officers to use public transport or cycle, but the public transport links are not adequate- and I did not see in the application any provision for the¼ mile long cycle rack, which would be needed for so many bikes!

The contempt  for local  residents is appalling.  Firstly the Council built over the existing car parks in Grahame Park, with no alternative parking provision. Given the pressure on parking spaces, I suggested at the time that the  Council should take spaces in the RAF museum car park to replace the lost residents’ spaces. They refused point blank, but now are happy to do this for some, at least, of their own officers. They put their own convenience ahead of local people: nothing new there, is there?

But it gets worse.  Now residents are told there will have to be a CPZ controlled parking zone, for which the residents will have to pay. Why? because the Council had not thought through the demands on local streets of the extra parking their overdevelopment of  Colindale has created, the fact that the new  residents in those developments won’t  or can’t pay the £25,000 asking price for a parking space, and to which pressure on parking   the Council is contributing by its  own proposed office scheme.

Andrew Dismore

Labour London Assembly Member and candidate for Barnet and Camden