If you’re in a hurry, this is quick and easy to do. Go to the council’s website, click on the “Comment on Application” button, and fill in the form. Here’s the link:
Write a letter.
Or you can send a printed letter straight to the council. If you need help writing up a letter, we have some sample letters right here!
Be sure to mention your name and address, and cite the right reference number. In the case of 500 White Hart Lane it’s:
HGY/2016/0828.
Planning and Building Control
6th Floor
River Park House
225 High Road
Wood Green
London
N22 8HQ
What to say.
A few things to keep in mind when writing to the council:
- Focus on the key points that you object to.
- Planners are most interested if you object "in principle" (that the project is inappropriate and shouldn't support a change of land usage), or that the proposal is "overbearing".
- Be polite, of course!
- If you support aspects of the proposal, great. But remember that they’re probably going to go ahead anyway if nobody objects.
- Don’t focus on how your house value will go down if the tower blocks are built. That’s probably true, but it’s also something that planners refuse to consider.
- Don’t focus on how you’ll lose your view of the city if giant tower blocks go up. That’s also true, but another issue that planners refuse to consider.
- Don’t focus on how much money the football team’s owners will make by parachuting 145 flats into a small spot. That’s another topic that planners refuse to touch.
- Don’t joke around about how you support a different football team – planners don’t always have a sense of humour!
- Keep your thoughts specific and to the point.
If it’s useful to you, many of us in the community object to:
- Tall 7-storey tower blocks are appropriate for urban settings or along a railway. They are not appropriate for our leafy two-storey streets.
- Haringey’s own planning documents (Haringey Sites Allocation Development Plan Document) state that 4 storeys should be the maximum height for buildings in that area.
- The density of housing is too high. We are 1.5 km from the nearest rail or tube station. There aren’t enough shops, doctors’ offices, playgrounds, and schools as it is — let alone if the population doubles.
- The plan does not improve or regenerate our neighbourhood, and in fact places extra stress on our already taxed neighbourhood amenities.
We, concerned residents of Devonshire Hill, have a page with more detailed information on 500 WHL here:
The official planning application by the football team’s corporation is here:
Contact a councillor.
You can also contact your councillor. But if you choose to do this, please do it as well as filing a comment with the planning department. Contacting your councillor alone is not enough to have your voice heard, since councillors do not forward comments to planning directly.
A list of local councillors is included here, on our useful links page:
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