Take part in the Local Plan consultation.
Residents can have their say on Enfield Council’s plan to address the borough’s chronic housing shortage and manage sustainable and controlled growth for the benefit of local people.
The Local Plan aims to tackle the housing crisis in Enfield and address a wide range of severe housing issues. A consultation on the document is now live.
Enfield’s Local Plan, once adopted, will provide the planning framework to allow sustainable and managed growth in the borough through the creation of new homes, well paid jobs and the vital supporting community infrastructure until 2036.
Cllr Ahmet Oykener, Cabinet Member for Property and Assets said: “Our Local Plan aims to improve the supply of genuinely affordable high-quality family homes for Enfield residents, help get young people on the housing ladder and permanently remove the need for expensive temporary accommodation.
“We have a desperate shortage of genuinely affordable housing in Enfield and we need to consider a comprehensive solution to what is a chronic issue – both here and nationally.
“The Local Plan will demonstrate our commitment to targeting 50 per cent affordable homes for new housing developments.
“We will always prefer to meet Enfield’s housing needs by building on brownfield and town centre sites but our Local Plan needs to consider every single option available to us.
“These are realistic options on the table at this early stage of the Local Plan. We will consider all the responses to the consultation before we work up and develop our preferred options but it’s really important residents take part in the consultation so that we have views from across the borough.”
For each of the last five years, Enfield has built an average of 550 new homes, but the draft new London Plan expects 1,876 homes to be built each year between 2019 and 2029 and government targets call for 3,500 homes to be built every year over the same period, necessitating a significant increase in construction activity.
The £6bn Meridian Water development will account for 10,000 new homes and half of the housing mooted for the borough is expected to be provided from small sites.
But with a third of the land in Enfield designated as Green Belt, there is a severe shortage of land available for house building and the Local Plan also explores the possibility of whether managed development on a small segment of the Green Belt is appropriate and proportionate.
There will be a number of opportunities for public engagement and consultation before the Local Plan’s adoption in 2020.
The decision to consult on the Local Plan is subject to call in.