Mayor and MHCLG both understood to be looking at range of delivery options for 21,000-home project which is listed in government’s New Towns programme
The Mayor of London’s office has insisted City Hall and the government will work with councillors to develop plans for a new town at Crews Hill, despite Enfield Council this week withdrawing its support for the 21,000-home project.
The government has listed Crews Hill and Chase Park in the north London borough as one of seven potential new towns it is supporting and said the area has the potential for high value land capture by releasing green belt land.
However following the 7 May local elections, Enfield Council is now run by a Conservative minority administration which opposes green belt development. It yesterday announced it was withdrawing from the New Towns programme.
Despite this, a spokesperson for Sadiq Khan said City Hall and the government is pressing ahead with developing plans for the new town.
Responding to Enfield’s decision to withdraw, the spokesperson told Housing Today said: “Crews Hill, and other sites in the borough, represent a significant opportunity to deliver sustainable, high-quality neighbourhoods, improve the quality of and access to nature and local green spaces, and tackle London’s acute housing crisis.
“Alongside the government we will continue to work closely with councillors in Enfield to further develop plans at Crews Hill, including proposals for extensive consultation with the local community.”
An MHCLG spokesperson said the new towns programme will “restore the dream of home ownership” for people across the country and that the government will be responding to its consultation on the programme, including locations of new towns, “in due course”.
City Hall and MHCLG are now looking at a range of delivery models to progress the new town. One potential option is for Khan to remove the scheme from council control into a development corporation, although this has yet to be officially confirmed or denied by City Hall.
MHCLG believes the new town has “high potential for land value capture through green belt release”. It admits the potential impacts on the natural landscape could be significant but says these could be mitigated (see box below).
Enfield Council’s new Conservative leader Alessandro Georgiou wrote to housing minister Matthew Pennycook yesterday to inform him of the council’s decision to pull out of the New Towns Programme.
He said the authority’s focus “will shift away from destroying green spaces and toward maximising our urban potential”. Both the Conservatives, which won most seats in Enfield in the local elections, and the Green Party, which holds the balance of power, campaigned against the new town.
What MHCLG says about Crews Hill and Chase Park in its New Towns consultation
“Crews Hill and Chase Park, Enfield provides an opportunity with high potential for land value capture through green belt release – delivering up to 21,000 homes in outer London, a region facing extremely high housing demand and low housing affordability.
The potential impacts on the natural landscape could be significant given the site’s greenfield status. These will be mitigated wherever possible through comprehensive masterplanning and consideration of how the Enfield Chase Landscape Recovery project could support mitigation and nature recovery.
Our view is that any remaining impacts would be outweighed by the need for housing delivery in London and low availability of land, especially as the existing greenfield land is low-quality agricultural use.”
Source: MHCLG New Towns Draft Programme consultation document.
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