Bats Expert
A message was left on my voicemail line yesterday by Ollie Natelson, saying he is a bat expert who has successfully stopped several developments.
So I called him back and we had a half-hour chat about NLPB. He'd only heard about it by spotting a post on Nextdoor, and a bit of research led him to EBRA and my voicemail number.
So I posted on our Facebook group last night asking if anyone is aware of bats, and asking for someone to get back to Ollie.
See facebook.com/groups/167847140457778/posts/1268191307090017/
Nearby resident Robin Booth has contacted Ollie to idenfity if Comers' bat survey was inadequate and if there is a threat to the bat population. If there is, Ollie says he knows how to get the building and clearance works shut down.
The thing is, Ollie may need access to the surrounding gardens, to be able to examine the trees that are still standing. So please ask your friends and neighbours and send me contact details that I can send on to Robin & Ollie. Thank you!
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We Need Help!
If the forthcoming planning committee meeting refuses Comers' current planning application - as we hope it will - then Comers will almost certainly appeal to the Government's Planning Inspectorate to try to overturn that decision.
When this happened last time, for the original planning application, the Planning Inquiry didn't go well. The Planning Inspector [John Braithwaite BSc(Arch) BArch(Hons) RIBA MRTPI], was highly critical that Barnet Council only sent one representative to the inquiry, their Principal Planning Officer [Mr C Griffiths BA(Hons) MPlan] and he refused to answer some of the cross-examination questions, it seems. The other people who spoke were referred to as "Interested Persons" but didn't carry as much weight as the Council's representative. The Planning Inspector allowed the appeal, and instructed the Councill to pay Comers' costs, inferring that the Council's refusal was unfounded!
At the inquiries for Enfield Council's refusal of the Arnos Grove car park scheme, and Barnet Council's refusal of the New Barnet Gasworks (Victoria Quarter) plans, residents grouped together and gained "Rule 6" status to help to defend the refusal on behalf of the Council. This was very effective, particularly at the VQ inquiry, where the Inspector dismissed the appeal.
The residents who collaborated as Rule 6 participants had to put in hundreds of manhours to examine all the planners' documents and arguments in exquisite detail, and state their reasons why the appeal should fail. Some of the team then attended the Inquiry in person over several days and were cross-examined by the developers' QCs, barristers, and subject experts who tried to belittle and dismiss the Rule 6 evidence.
At NLBP we have nobody like that yet. We need someone to lead the potential Rule 6 team, and to pull together people with the time and logical thought to make a watertight argument to present to and defend at the Inquiry.
Martin Berliner set up the Facebook group, and I set up the website and newsletter distribution and have done my best to spread the word. But neither of us lives locally. We will be happy to advise the team, and help as much as we can. And I'm sure I could ask the Save Cockfosters and Save New Barnet teams to give advice and guidance. But we need someone who lives next to NLBP - and therefore has the motivation to get the planning application appeal thrown out - to lead the team.
Please share this with your friends and neighbours whose lives are already being disrupted by the works taking place, and let's find a leader and a team! Thank you.
<rant over>
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Thanks & regards,
Rob White
NLBP Campaign Team - see nlbp.eastbar.net
To join East Barnet Residents' Association (EBRA) please visit our website ebra.eastbar.net or email rob@eastbar.net
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