The housing developer behind EPR Architects-designed proposals to build 539 homes on brownfield land in north London has failed to win the backing of a planning inspector for the controversial scheme.

Citystyle Fairview took Barnet Council to a planning appeal for not determining its “Victoria Quarter” proposals for a former gasworks site in New Barnet quickly enough.

But planning inspector John Wilde described the proposals as introducing an “alien typography” to the predominantly low-rise suburb. He went on to suggest that the London Plan’s stated push for a “fundamental transformation” in how new homes are delivered should not mean a “complete disregard” for wider context.

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