Issue - meetings

The Chairman introduced the report which provided an update on the collaborative work between the council and the developers Regal London and Joseph Partners to revitalise the North Finchley Town Centre. The report outlined the proposal to enter into both the North Finchley Land Agreement and North Finchley Site Assembly Agreement with Regal JP North Finchley Limited and Regal Holdco Ltd.

Officers advised members that full participation with the board would be taking place and for those not sitting on the board, consultations would take place.

An error in the report was noted, in that it stated under one section that the planning application for the development scheme would be September 2021, when in fact the date was 31^st December 2022.

Some members raised concerns relating to the fact that the agreement allowed for phase 1 of the development to go ahead and for the developer to then subsequently pull out of the agreement. Some members felt that this might lead to the easy parts of the scheme being completed and the difficult parts being abandoned. Officers advised that plans had been put in place to mitigate the risk by requiring the developer to bring forward a planning application for the entire site, which would make it very unfavourable for them to subsequently walk away as this would come at a considerable cost. Consequently, officers explained that the partnering developer needed to have some security provisions in place to make it feasible for them to take forward.

The Chairman invited Mr Joseph from Joseph Partners to briefly address the concerns of the members. Mr Joseph explained that Joseph Partners had a successful history within the Borough for development schemes and that their new partners Regal, had done several successful developments within surrounding boroughs, including Brent, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Westminster. He also said that significant consultation with the community and ward councillors would continue to take place.

Before the vote on the item was taken, four members of the committee referred the decision to Council. The reason for referral was that those Members who voted to refer deemed the decision to be a substantial one about a land disposal in North Finchley, which would benefit from Full Council input. In addition, they felt referring it would allow residents a further say in the decision.

RESOLVED that the item be deferred to Full Council on the 19^th October 2021 for decision.