Polyclinic on our doorstep

By Janet Maitland
Barnet Council has given planning permission for a polyclinic on the site of Finchley Manor Garden Centre on East End Road. The decision has been met with a mixture of surprise and anger by local people and businesses who claim they were not consulted.
Thirty people signed a petition objecting to the proposal when it was first submitted by Cloverdale Estates last year. Then, Barnet refused permission because the plans were not compatible with the site’s Metropolitan Open Land status and there was no evidence that other sites had been explored.

Petition disregarded
When Cloverdale Estates submitted a revised application in July, Barnet did not inform the petition organiser Janice Wagner or the other petitioners, nor was the petition mentioned in the Planning Officer’s report to the Planning Committee. “Under planning law, this was submitted by the applicant as a new application and was treated as such,” said a spokesperson from Barnet Council.

“The first I heard of this was when I saw a For Sale notice saying that permission for a medical centre had been given,” said Janice. “I’m not happy with this at all.”

Barnet’s planning procedures stipulate that if three or more objections to a proposal are received, the application should be referred to a sub committee for further consideration. Three objections were received but this did not happen. “Some objections were received after the closing date had passed and the report had been written,” said the Barnet spokesperson.

Lack of consultation
The polyclinic will offer GP and dispensing service and, as such, is expected to have an impact on local GPs and pharmacists in East End Road and the High Road. However, none of them was consulted despite the fact that Barnet’s procedures specify that every effort should be made to consult relevant amenity groups.

Barnet Primary Care Trust (PCT) was consulted, but did not respond. A spokesperson for the PCT, which already has plans for a polyclinic as part of the planned redevelopment of Finchley Memorial Hospital in North Finchley, told The Archer that it has “no objections to these proposals at this stage”.

Councillor Colin Rogers raised the concern that the developers might try to work homes or commercial premises into their plans for this site, although there is no evidence that Cloverdale Estates are planning to do this.
Nevertheless, he said: “It was because this application was for a medical centre that permission was given. Should the developers try and change their minds and put in an application for homes or shops, it will be brought to the committee by me, for public scrutiny and debate.”

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