Objection to planning application for Underhill Stadium
Andrew Dismore AM
London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden
City Hall
The Queen’s Walk
London
SE1 2AA
Objection to planning application for Underhill Stadium And Hockey Club Barnet Lane Barnet EN5 2DN, Ref: 17/4840/FUL
REQUEST TO SPEAK AT COMMITTEE
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to object to the above application in my capacity as London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden. I do not believe that the current application deals sufficiently with the problems identified in the original Ark Academy application. The design is still overdeveloping and an over-intensive use of the site, with no way of mitigating the impact on neighbours.
However, what is still of great concern to me is the impact of having this school in this location, and the travel, parking and transport impact. Local roads are already very full, and there are already severe problems with parking. I believe a school will make this problem significantly worse, with the impact of children being dropped off and picked up, as well as all day parking by teachers, visitors and even the sixth form pupils.
The reason there is likely to be significant car usage and transport at this site is because the growth of the borough’s population is on the Western and Southern side, not the North, which according to the Council does not have the level of need for school places.
Unfortunately, orbital and cross borough links in Barnet are extremely poor, and as there are no proposals to improve public transport in this area, I believe this will create an unsustainable level of traffic that Barnet Lane in particular will be unable to cope with.
Therefore I would urge the Council to reject this application.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Dismore AM
London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden
