In the last year to a year and a half, under the leadership of Paul Tomkins, Haringey’s Planning Department has demonstrated a new commitment both to rigorously applying the planning process and to enforcement of planning decisions. There is a team of eight planning officers, aiming to be approachable and helpful to local residents. 

THE BASICS

 1)       A planning application is put in.

 2)       Consultation takes place; there is a statutory responsibility to consult with local residents, which the Planning Department does by

(a)      putting notices through the doors of homes close to the proposed development, and

(b)      by putting ‘site notices’ up in the streets.

It is at this point that the Association can put in an objection, if it is sure that that is the majority view.

 3)       The Department may turn the application down straight away if it does not fit with either the law or Haringey policy guidelines. At this point the developer can appeal against the decision.

 4)       On major cases the developer’s application is seen by the Council’s Planning Committee, which will take into account objections from local people. More minor cases are dealt with by the Planning Department.

          (a)      If the development is allowed to go ahead ,local people cannot object any further.

          (b)      If the development is turned down, the developer can appeal.

 5)       The appeal is heard in the local planning court Or by written representations.

 6)       If the appeal fails and the development is still rejected, the developer can appeal to the High Court on a point of law.

 7)       If the Council’s decision is upheld, then the developer has to accept that. If it is not, then the developer can go ahead.

LIAISON WITH LOCAL GROUPS

The Department works with community groups by having regular meetings and ‘walk abouts’  to look at the type of applications which are causing concern. The comments of local groups do carry particular weight. Residents should report inappropriate things so the department can take action.

Consultation:  How widely individuals are consulted around a proposed development depends on the nature of the application. If there is to be a change of use consultation would cover a wider are and more site notices would be put up so that passers by see them. They are looking at better layout of site notices to attract more attention.

PLANNING POLICIES

Haringey uses the Haringey Unitary Development Plan (www.haringey.gov.uk > housing and planning > planning > development plan),  produced last year and already updated, for guidance on what is and is not acceptable. The basic policy aims are to protect residential areas, encourage economic prosperity in the borough and protect conservation areas. For Bowes Park the Myddleton Road Neighbourhood Plan is also used. Enforcement is now much more of a priority.

Conversions: Haringey has a policy about restricting the number of conversions: not more than 20% of houses in a street should be converted into two or more dwellings. Too many conversions alter the character of a neighbourhood. A lot of the roads already have over 20% of houses converted. A house under 120 square metres in size cannot be converted.

Home extensions:  Planning permission is not normally needed, so don’t blame the Council for something your neighbour has done!

BOWES PARK CONSERVATION AREA

A Conservation Area is one with a special character, architecturally or historically. The Finsbury Gardens area, with its open space and Victorian villas is a good example of one. The Council has a special duty to preserve and enhance such areas. Inside a conservation area there are restrictions on what you can do to your house, eg. no changes to the roof apart from roof lights.  

In the Bowes Park Conservation Area the open space along the river, which is protected from any building. The Department is aware of historic problems in Myddleton Road and aims to restore the conservation shop fronts and other features. 

It is is news to a lot of people, esp. in Myddleton Road that it is a conservation area. In the past changes have been made so the area went downhill and then it does not occur to people that it could be a conservation area.  

ACTION   A leaflet explaining what you can and cannot do in a CA would be very helpful.  Also signs or notices with ‘conservation area’ on them. FK will look into the possibility of a leaflet and get back to the Association.

DEVELOPERS

The Planning Department ask developers to talk to groups like BPCA. Ideally there is a partnership of developers, residents and planners. However some developers are very aggressive, will not speak to them. But Government advice to developers is to liaise with community and planning departments.

ENFORCEMENT

In the past there was a period when it was said that Haringey had decided it was not going to spend money on enforcing planning enforcements. If that was the case that would explain a lot, especially in Myddleton Road. With the appeal processes, enforcement can be very slow and often the damage has been done. They do rely on local residents alerting them to dodgy developments. 

Reversion of a change made to a single family dwelling can be enforced within 4 years. After that the change becomes lawful. For a change to multiple occupation there is a period of 10 years when planning rules can be enforced. Enforcement proceedings must start within those periods but can continue beyond them. People are usually given 6 months to put something right before being taken to court.

Stop notices are used on building works usually in a conservation area. They are used sparingly, mostly on listed buildings. The Department cannot intervene about something before it has happened. However the Association or individuals could write to the owners if they think something bad is going to happen.

PARKING

The advice from the Government is to try to reduce reliance on cars and so not provide parking for developments. The Transportation Section looks at how good the public transport links are to justify turning down applications involving parking space. However their experience is that people will always have cars and want to park. In a Restricted Conversion Area (Bowes Park is not one yet) no conversions are permitted without off street parking.

Off street parking  The other issue is about front gardens being paved over. For a house you can lower your curb and have a hard standing without planning permission. They are looking at ways of restricting the hard standing and retaining greenery such as using perforated tracks. Their guidance is that 50% has to be a permeable surface. People were getting crossovers done although their gardens were not wide or long enough for a car – they should be XX metres long.  Parking with part of the car obstructing the pavement is banned and the Highways Department should be able to stop that with new rules.

SPECIFIC AREAS

Myddleton Road English Heritage are interested in giving a grant to improve a number of properties.

North Circular Haringey puts comments in on developments around the A406 so we should feed our comments to him. Minutes of the Myddleton Road Group  meetings should be circulated to planning officers so that they o can keep an eye on issues affecting this area.  

Nightingale / Finsbury Road proposed scheme has been withdrawn. The developers have contacted the Department again (having bought the site they will want to do something with it). The advice would be to come to speak to the Association and local residents in order to get feedback before drawing up another plan.  

Lawrence House, Palmerston Road        There was a good appeal decision on an application to build a block of flats on garages behind Lawrence House. As it backed onto the river a two storey building would have affected the character of the area. 

Bounds Green Road, tube station to the end of Whittington This is the gateway to Haringey, and is an eyesore. The pedestrian bridge is ugly and not much used. Traffic lights would be better. Is permission needed for the advertising ACTION   hoardings, which may be on railway land? FK will look into that and get back to us.

The BPCA Environmental Group will be working with the Queens Road Action Group to improve this stretch of road.