Still suffering from Jet lag I attended the July meeting of the Finchley and Golders Green planning sub committee last night. During my holiday on the west coast of the USA the Town Hall had reopened following refurbishment.

To be charitable I guess it is difficult to do very much with the Town Hall. A lot of effort has gone into the makeover and the work is not yet completed. At least we have decent chairs to sit on in the committee rooms. The mens’ rest room (see America is rubbing off on me) has an interesting mirror like something out of the “Hall of Mirrors”

I digress; the planning subcommittee had the usual mix of planning applications. The Chairman was at his gracious best even allowing a speaker to go over time. The same speaker even asked permission to leave the room once the application had been determined.

Two applications took some time to decide. The first was in Dollis Park N3. The speakers and objectors in the public gallery were hot under the collar. They accused the Council of miss leading them over the description of the planning application. I think that was a bit a strong but I could see why they were confused An argument then ensued whether there were other flatted developments in the street. The Chairman confounded the objectors by observing that indeed there were many examples of flatted development he remembered this from when he canvassed on behalf of the Leader of the Council in a by- election in 2001. Oh happy days! The application was approved by 4 to 3.

The second contentious application related to a proposed conversion in Hervey Close N3. We were told that enforcement enquiries were currently underway concerning an outbuilding in the rear garden. The owner had told the Council that a security guard used it to protect the property. The objectors claimed that a family and a dog had been living there...It is so difficult to know who to believe in these circumstances. This time the Committee voted 4 to 3 to refuse the application.

The meeting ended, as I left I saw the objectors to the Dollis Park application surrounding the planning officers. Clearly they were not happy. On the way out I noted that the pictures of past Mayors of the Borough had not yet been put back on the wall. The new Mayor though does have his picture on the wall. He looks oh so serious!