“ Why are we suckered in every time? The changes do not change anything of note.
This is a 4 storey block on a heritage site, overlooking a terrace of traditional cottages in a conservation area. It is entirely inappropriate.
To say it will bring economic benefits is grasping at straws. The majority of jobs created will be low paid and well below a living wage for Barnet. Will Barnet residents realistically take these jobs? As for apprenticeships? How many are likely to be offered, other than as a means of cheap employment and paying slave wages?
The additional footfall in the High Street is likely to be minimal. It is a motel for one night stays in the majority of cases. Customers will turn up, plug their laptops in to charge and sleep in most cases. Some will go out for junk food or a quick pint for sure, but to a local restaurant? Unlikely. Shopping at the Spires? They will be gone by 8am latest without getting a litre of bleach from Savers!!
The idea that paying to improve the car park opposite is just.....words fail. Its a car park. All we need is as many spaces as possible at a reasonable cost. What improvements are they going to make? Landscaping wont cure ASB in Barnet.
The application depends on the NCP being open 24 hours for hotel guests. This will attract far more ASB in to the area and vehicle movements at all hours potentially.This will impact residents in Stapylton and Salisbury Roads both with noise and pollution.
Barnet Society's support for the application is baffling to me. We should all be pushing for the site to be returned to its proper function as a market. The moment it was designated a car park it was discarded as nothing more than a development opportunity. ”