Residents protest at plans to open new supermarket

By Janet Maitland
Hundreds of local residents were horrified to learn of a recent planning application to open a new supermarket on the ground floor of Stag Court in the High Road, opposite the library.

“East Finchley’s village feel should be protected,” said Phil Prentice. “We don’t need a new supermarket.” Phil encouraged his Creighton House neighbours to email Barnet Council if they felt the same way.

Mr Erden, manager of Onur Food and Wine store at 222 High Road, submitted a petition of 321 signatures to Barnet Council’s planning committee. “My main concern was the increased traffic, noise and parking problems,” said Mr Erden.

Barnet informed The Archer that the application, submitted by Summed Survey LTD, was withdrawn in March. It was therefore not considered by the planning committee. “Local opinion would have been taken into account if the application had reached the committee,” said Bill Campbell from Barnet. “The impact on the local area would have been one of our main considerations.”

Local objections effective
The Archer tried to discover if the owners had been influenced by hearing about the local protest informally. Summed Survey LTD, agents for the owners, confirmed that this was the case. Although they had advised the owners to proceed “as there was a chance that the application might be successful” the owners had decided against it.

Christo and Co, letting agents for the office space on the ground floor of Stag Court, may have inadvertently contributed to a rumour that the proposed supermarket was a branch of Tesco. John Morrell from Christo told The Archer that the planning application was in fact an appeal, which had been turned down by Barnet.

However, Barnet informed us that Christo was probably getting mixed up with an application to open a Tesco on Ballards Lane. The planning committee had indeed turned down that application, and the subsequent appeal last year.

The Archer

Any views published here are those of the original authors, and not necessarily representative of REEF or east-finchley.com

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