Below you can find Frequently Asked Questions about our proposals for Victoria Quarter.

However, if your question is not answered below, please get in touch using the details at the bottom of the page.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What about affordable housing?

London is facing a housing crisis, and here in New Barnet there are two main challenges. Firstly, there is the challenge facing first time buyers and ‘second steppers’ looking for high-quality housing locally, and also a growing number of people on the Council’s housing waiting list seeking a secure and affordable home. Due to a lack of social housing provision, ccouncils are spending more and more on temporary accommodation that is not only expensive, but in the long term it has a detrimental effect on the life chances of these residents.

We believe our scheme helps to meet both these challenges. Not only does it include a range of new homes in different types, sizes and tenures, it also delivers 35% affordable housing. This compares favourably to the current planning consents which provides 18% local cost homes to rent and buy. Ultimately, at 35% provision, it will ensure hundreds of local people move from the housing waiting list and temporary accommodation into safe, secure and high quality new homes.

When it comes to new homes, are you proposing an increase of 115 new homes?

Yes. The site has consent for 371 homes but these cannot be delivered in full due to building regulation changes. However, 66 of these homes are currently under construction because they are housed in buildings that are below 18 metres in height.

371 minus 66 leaves 305 homes that are currently undeliverable, and we believe that approving an additional 115 homes from the original consent is suitable, sustainable, and will ensure the timely delivery of this important new neighbourhood for local people. This means the total site would provide 420 new homes, with the majority being allocated for affordable housing.

Should we focus on brownfield sites first?

The Gasworks is a brownfield site in a highly sustainable location. It is close to a network of local bus routes and is just minutes from New Barnet train station. The alternative to new homes here is to focus on sites nearby that are greenfield or Green Belt. We believe that new homes should be delivered on brownfield site such as the Gasworks first. Fairview has undertaken considerable remediation works to ensure the site is ready for new homes, and approval of their ‘live’ planning application will deliver this.

What about sustainability?

The plans contained in our ‘live’ planning application follow the energy hierarchy, using a fabric first approach to design to reduce carbon emissions, followed by the incorporation of the district heating network and the provision of renewable energy generation from photovoltaic (solar) panel arrays to achieve a cumulative 74% reduction in carbon emissions against 2021 Building Regulations. This is a very high level of carbon reduction and far exceeds London Plan Policy.

What about the building heights you are proposing and views from the park?

The ‘finger block’ buildings along the park are six storeys. This is just one storey higher than the 371-unit scheme.

We are in ongoing conversations with the council’s new Urban Design officer and want to work closely to ensure the scheme meets the Council’s aspirations on design, height, and townscape views.

Part of these discussions will include views of the proposed development from the park, and we are confident that our plans are suitable for this sustainable, brownfield location close to the centre of New Barnet.

What about the footpath?

Fairview owns the elevated footpath which is currently a focus of local anti-social behaviour and low level crime. It’s often intimidating during daylight hours, and a place to avoid at night.

In the short term, we propose to put lights on the footbridge to improve safety but, in the long term, our 420-home plans include a proposal to remove the elevated footbridge and provide a path at ground level to the existing tunnel, vastly improving its safety and driving out anti-social behaviour and low level crime.

Together with a new link to the park, our plans deliver a step change in permeability through and across the site.

What about the technical assessment of the plans?

With new fire and building regulations coming into force earlier this year, our plans are subject to challenging and onerous technical assessments and we are pleased that our current proposals perform well, and we are working with the Council’s planning department to ensure these homes become the most sustainable in Barnet.

What are your direct responses to the technical assessments which some residents have raised concerns about?

A number of local residents have raised concerns with the Council about the application’s technical performance, and we have set out a formal response to each issue below:

Overheating

Some local residents raised concerns that new residents in certain properties would not be able to open their windows and that they would be sealed shut. This is not correct, local residents in new homes will be able to open or close their windows whenever they wish.

We believe this error has arisen in relation to the scheme’s assessment against Building Regulation Part O, which was published in December 2021 and updated in June 2022. This represented a step change in the assessment criteria and so this is the first time homes on this site have been assessed against those standards. Previous planning proposals were subject to previous, less stringent regulations.

The building regulations include a statement that “windows are likely to be closed during sleeping hours if noise within bedrooms exceeds 40bd averaged over 8 hours”. This means that for overheating testing purposes the windows have to be assumed to be shut even though they are openable. To put this in context, 40dB is equivalent to “refridgerator humming”. Any development next to a road or railway would come under this onerous testing requirement.

 

Noise assessment

Some living locally believe that our current plans breach London Plan Policy D14 related to noise.

However, Fairview has experience of delivering high quality housing along railway lines, and based on this experience is proposing buildings along the western boundary with bedrooms facing away from the railway line.

An important additional point to make is that none of the homes in these buildings facing the railway are single aspect – all homes proposed in this direction will have at least two aspects to look out from.

Daylight and sunlight assessment

There is a view from some locally that our plans fail to meet BRE 2022 Guidelines.

Our new plans include the delivery of ‘finger’ blocks that many in the community were encouraging us to deliver, and we will continue to assess our plans against these guidelines.

Single aspect flats

A small number of local residents questioned how our plans respond to London Plan Policy D6, and specifically paragraph 3.6.5.

We are pleased that 80% of the homes we are proposing are dual or triple aspect, increasing the number from the 70% outlined in the recent scheme judged by the Planning Inspectorate.

Furthermore, our plans contain no north-facing single aspect flats. The Greater London Authority was supportive of the scheme when it included 70% dual aspect apartments, and they have raised no concern with single aspect units in this new scheme.

Local character

There is concern from some that our plans breach London Plan Policy D3 and the New Barnet Town Centre Framework.

We believe that, when viewed from the park, our new ‘finger’ block design is less intrusive than the plans which were assessed by the Planning Inspectorate. Whilst the new buildings we propose are a storey higher than the 371-home scheme that was previously approved, our buildings still sit below the tree line. They also include set-backs storeys from the fourth floor onwards to reduce the impact from the park.

Parking

There are often a wide range of opinions from local people about parking provision on new developments.

For Victoria Quarter, the Greater London Authority is pushing for fewer parking spaces to be delivered, but we believe a 60% parking provision reflects the local need. This level of provision was also accepted by the Planning Inspectorate in the appeal they reviewed recently.

Furthermore, the scheme is supported by a range of sustainable travel incentives to encourage residents to consider alternatives to owning, running or using a private car.

To tackle concerns about overspill parking on local roads, Fairview has made provision in the legal agreement for a Controlled Parking Zone survey to take place, which would be implemented if residents decide it is something they want.

Infrastructure

A number of local residents raised concerns about their ability to access local public services should these Victoria Quarter plans be approved. Importantly, should they secure planning consent, considerable developer contributions through the S.106 and CIL payment systems would be received by the Council and public service providers to ensure the infrastructure impacts of our proposals are mitigated. This is a system that works well across London and throughout the UK, and we are confident that it will work effectively here in New Barnet.

Agreed parameters

The Council’s previous planning decisions, alongside the Planning Inspectorate’s recent report on our previous proposals, has been useful because together it agreed a range of parameters for the successful re-development of this site as a residential-led mixed use scheme.

Council approvals have agreed the principle of development for this site, and the Inspectorate’s report highlighted that our strategy towards new homes, affordable housing, family housing, parking provision and bin collection was satisfactory. We believe that we have also taken considerable steps to allay the Council’s previous concerns about the massing, character and appearance of our plans, and we look forward to making our case to the Council’s planning committee in 2024 about why we believe these plans should be approved locally.

Victoria Quarter in numbers

Car parking spaces – 291

Cycle spaces – 765

CONTACT US

If you have any questions you can contact the project team via:

0800 298 7040

feedback@consultation-online.co.uk