RECIPE FOR DISASTER (PLANNING APPLICATION 3)

MERITAGE CENTRE/CHURCH END/CHURCH TERRACE/PRINCE OF WALES CLOSE

HOTPOT OF HORROR

I think I’m an incredible chef. Sadly, I’m the only one who does.

When I cook, I like to experiment and chuck in all sorts of disparate ingredients hoping they’ll mysteriously merge into something magnificent. This never happens. My dinners are basically Hotpots of Horror. Less Heston Blumenthal, more WHAT THE BLUMEN-HECK DID I JUST EAT?!!

Why am I telling you this?

As I pore over Barnet Council’s plans for Hendon’s future, it’s becoming increasingly clear they are creating their own Hotpot of Horror especially for us. But instead of disappointing a wife and three kids like I do, they are dismantling a community.

WHAT THE BLUMEN-HECK ARE YOU DOING TO HENDON, BARNET COUNCIL??!

MERITAGE AND HERITAGE

The Meritage Centre sits inside the Church End Conservation area which at first sight will strike you as bizarre.

Like me, it's a little bit ugly and a little bit knackered. It's been in desperate need of TLC for years.

But look what's right next door...

... St Mary's Church, Hendon, home to a thriving community for hundreds of years. Its Norman Font is still in use.

FUN FACT: According to Hendon Parish website, "the massive tomb of Philip Rundell is thought to have been Bram Stoker's inspiration for Kingstead Churchyard in his novel Dracula".

Many of us are eagerly awaiting the grand re-opening of the Greyhound pub next door to the church. It's been around since the 1700s and was rebuilt in 1892.

Next to The Greyhound is the old community Church Farmhouse Museum now leased by Middlesex University. Enough said about that or you'll get me howling. You can refresh your memory about it here … http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2014/09/guest-blog-update-from-retired-curator.html

AN ACTUAL COMMUNITY HUB

Back to the Meritage Centre area. It may look like where Zammo bought his drugs in Grange Hill but here's the thing. Amazing things happen there.

This tiny little area is home to Meridian Wellbeing, The Barnet Wellbeing Service, Age UK, African Cultural Centre, Mencap, the PDSA and the Citizens Advice Bureau. Meridian Wellbeing alone received 15000 visitors last year. Then there’s the Meritage Club, a day centre with activities for elderly people. And community groups like the Scouts use the facilities.

(As the Scouts are about to be made homeless, they're fundraising for a new building - details here: https://www.8thhendon.org/scout-hut-appeal).

There are also the groups and activities of St Mary's Church.

In the immediate vicinity is the Prince of Wales residential estate, two nurseries, St Mary’s & St John’s Middle School (the Upper School is close by on Downage), roads of family homes leading to Sunny Hill Park and its stunning views and café. Three minutes down the hill is Sunnyfields Primary School.

This is community life, family life, it's real, it's embedded and it's thriving. You can feel it and breathe it. Which is why it's glaringly obvious to so many residents that ...

... the Meritage Centre should be redeveloped to provide improved community facilities and social housing.

But no. Barnet Council are about to blow the area apart.

BOOM! (and not in a good way)

In their publication "Hendon Church End Conservation area Character Appraisal" (2012) Barnet Council had this to say about the Meritage area:

"As a recent development, (the buildings) do not sit comfortably with the local vernacular of the majority of the buildings within the Conservation Area, and detract from the established character.”

- and that it was:

“a modern... inappropriate development within the ‘village’”.

On that basis, can Barnet Council please explain why they are slapping Compulsory Purchase Orders on residents' homes and demolishing them along with all the community buildings in the Meritage area/Church End Conservation Area to make way for ...

FOUR blocks ranging over two, three and four storeys comprising 181 STUDENT ACCOMMODATION UNITS and 33 shared living accommodation units for independent youths (to replace the students that were due to be housed there in the initial plans).

BLOCKS ONE AND TWO ARE RIGHT SMACK BANG IN THE CHURCH END CONSERVATION AREA.

I kid you not.

Still not kidding

In other news, who stole St Mary's Church?

WHERE ARE THE COMMUNITY GROUPS GOING?

In two years of planning the “Hendon Hub” - and with £2.28 million of our money handed to Capita to figure it out, not one single plan was made to re-house any of the community groups being evicted. No new community benefits or facilities were created beyond the marketing-speak - you know the sort of thing: "green spaces", "environment", "diversity" etc. That is except for access to a new university teaching theatre and of course, our so-called "state-of-the-art" library. (Read about the Hendon Library scandal here https://hendonresidents.wixsite.com/website/post/read-the-room-barnet-council-planning-application-2).

More thought had gone into bird flyways than residents.

And that, dear neighbours, is one of the main reasons we know that these Hendon Hub plans were created for the benefit of the university and the council, but not us.

The most offensive thing? The fortune they've spent trying to persuade us this is all in our interest..

Anyway, half-way through the Hendon Hub consultation, in response to our outrage, a new plan for the community groups was swiftly cooked up. All sorts of disparate ingredients were chucked together in the hope that they would mysteriously merge into something magnificent.

I give you Hendon's Hotpot of Horror.

OUR NEW HOME

Imagine. The GROUND FLOOR of a hulking new 7 storey student accommodation block on The Burroughs sandwiched between two other oversized new buildings that are being squished in opposite the Town Hall and Hendon Library (soon to be Middlesex University Business School).

On this ground floor of this 7-storey building there are a couple of shops, the Middlesex University Marketing Suite, bike Storage, a plant and refuse area for the flats, some student living spaces... and crammed in among this you'll find the Citizens Advice Bureau, Meridian Wellbeing, the African Cultural Centre and a small community "hall". No mention of Age Concern, MENCAP or other community groups. If anyone knows where they're going, do let us know in the comments.

These community groups will be sharing the building with 384 student dormitories. But at least the thousands of visitors a year can park in Egerton Gdns car park next door… oh no, they can’t because it's being built on.

Anyone with a shred of emotional intelligence will see this plan is ridiculous. We’re being torn out of the perfect location and shoved into a corner, sponsored by Middlesex University, in an impossibly over-developed complex with all the other random Hendon Hub leftovers. Why? This must be all about money because it makes no sense.

Why are Middlesex University the NIMBYs in this scenario? Instead of building on their backyard, why are they taking over and wrecking our spaces?

THE DEVIL'S IN THE DETAIL

LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PLANNING APPLICATIONS ...

“They say, we’ll build doctor’s surgeries. But they can’t guarantee the doctors and the health staff to man them.”

Radio 4, 6th October

MERITAGE CENTRE Block 1 ground floor Health and wellbeing centre below student units Block 2 Student units Block 3 Garages re-provided towards Fuller St with student units above Block 4 Independent youths Blocks 1 and 2 (in Conservation area) have been lowered but still have stepped storeys 3 to 2. So, on the surface, it looks like Barnet Council have listened and made some changes and provisions.

But firstly, to my mind it's like painting the radiators to fix the heating. The main issues have been ignored and the repair looks nice but is meaningless.

Secondly, as we all know, once approval is granted for anything, the new buildings can be added to - altered through subsequent 'variation' applications, as seen recently at the Homebase Colindale site.

Same with the West Hendon Regeneration. Approval is the first step. Unfortunately, the path to get approval is often laid out with frills to appease the community eg no car parking permits allowed, no trees removed, a new library, GP surgery, restricted trading hours. Once approved, it's a different story.

We need to cut them off at the pass. If no GP or health organisation wants to utilise the Block 1 student facilities, it will very easy to apply to convert to student units. Similarly for Block 4 (which is replacing the soon-to-be-demolished Flats 13-21 on Prince of Wales Close). I struggle to trust these promises to provide for the community when other developments along the A5 corridor have been amended and expanded after approval.

Love the way the Health and Wellbeing Centre still has the markings for student units given up for the facility - one that will come with rents that nobody can afford like the commercial units in 2017 at Hendon Public Library. No office space was let out then - our library was decimated for nothing as it did not raise any revenues from office rentals.

Block 3 ground floor. 11 garages.

Block 4 Independent Youths replacing 13-21 Prince of Wales flats. All of those homes are due to be relocated to the Ravensfield/Fenella site to the block above the new library. That does not leave many flats available to others as 13 homes are already allocated out of the 28 being built.

A random Design Statement from one of the 763 planning documents:

"... extend the strong historic character of Church End and surrounding

residential character into the Meritage site"

How in the name of Cllr Thomas are the Meritage Centre site's bland modern block buildings of multiple rabbit hutch student units demonstrating the STRONG HISTORIC CHARACTER of Church End?

NB: No rabbits were harmed in the construction of this sentence.

BARNET COUNCIL. TAKE A TIP FROM ME.

CHUCK THIS RECIPE FOR DISASTER IN THE BIN WHERE IT BELONGS.

THAT'S WHAT I THINK. BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Have your say!

IF WE DON’T OBJECT, IT WILL HAPPEN.

Planning Application 3 of 8

Meritage Centre/Church End/Church Terrace/Prince of Wales Close

21/4722/FUL

https://publicaccess.barnet.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=QYP305JI09100

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