Last chance to have your say on Barnet Heights

13 Sep 2025
Written by Robin Bishop

… or High Barnet Place, as the development proposed next to High Barnet Station is officially called (see above). But Barnet Heights would be a more accurate description of 283 flats over the whole of the present car park in blocks of 5 to 11 storeys high.

Whichever, it’s the most serious threat to Chipping Barnet’s character and functioning in decades. And Friday 19 September is the deadline for public comments on the planning application.

The Barnet Society strongly opposes the proposals, and urges you to do so too.

Our key reasons for objecting strongly to the current planning application are because:

  • It breaches many policies in Barnet’s recently-adopted Local Plan.
  • It would create homes of unacceptably poor safety and quality in terms of layout, detailed design and amenity.
  • It would be no more accessible – and probably less safe – than the present site.
  • Contrary to the developers’ claims, it would be unsustainable by many environmental standards.
  • It would irreparably harm the identity of the neighbourhood, nearby and from afar.
  • No compensating benefits of significance are offered in terms of transport connectivity or new/improved facilities to the existing community.

We’re currently finalising a full justification of our objections. A draft summary of them can be found here.

The Society would welcome a development that combined a genuine improvement to the public realm and public transport connectivity alongside well-designed homes at a sympathetic scale of development. But this application is not that.

As I write, over 300 objections have been posted on the Council’s planning portal – impressive, but we need more.

In March Dan Tomlinson MP’s position was neutral, but his current stance has not yet been made known. Former Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers has submitted an objection.

Curiously, of the 26 supporters of the scheme, hardly any actually live in Chipping Barnet.

How you can comment

Have your say one of these ways:

  1. on the Council’s planning portal (ref. no. 25/2671/FUL) via the Comments tab;
  2. email comments direct to planning.consultation@barnet.gov.uk (cc sam.gerstein@barnet.gov.uk); or
  3. post your comments to the Planning Officer: Sam Gerstein, Planning and Building Control, Barnet Council , 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4EW.

In the cases of 2 & 3, be sure to include:

  • the application ref. no. (25/2671/FUL) clearly at the top
  • the site address (High Barnet Underground Station, Station Approach, Barnet EN5 5RP) and
  • your name, address and postcode.

Sending a copy of your comments to our MP dan.tomlinson.mp@parliament.uk and to your local Councillors will increase the effectiveness of your objection.

6 thoughts on “Last chance to have your say on Barnet Heights

  1. Does anyone know what our MP thinks of this scheme? He said that the developers should listen to residents in March. For or against, surely he should be making his views known?

  2. I feel sorry for those people and especially children, who will l staying in those flats: from one side of them tube, from another big road. Constant noise , pollution and ground shaking. Who care of this people? How can remind healthy in those flats?!

  3. Totally against this proposal. Not a suitable location for someone to live. It is also the end of the tube line – so the car park is needed for those not driving in to London. There are already 100s of flats currently being built 5 mins down the road just by New Barnet station. It’s just too many new flats for one area.

  4. Absolute madness. What are the council trying to do? Really not acceptable. Cramming people in so tightly. Far to near pollution, not good for people’s wellbeing.

  5. It is a shame that the Society, Ms Villiers and others have objected to so many housing proposals over the years, especially on green belt land and near other stations such as the Cockfosters car park area, so successfully that there is now a demand for massive numbers of new homes to be built urgently. The scheme is ugly but probably needed, as Barnet needs lots of new homes and this is a brownfield site with excellent transport links to support denser development.

  6. 25/2671/FUL
    Not happy at all about the proposals for these monstrosities to be erected.
    There’s already enough flats around the station without the need for more to be added. They will spoil the look of the surrounding area. Surely let’s improve the car park at the station?

Write Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *