Just got back from two weeks Rand R. I made the most of it as I suspect life will be hectic from now on. The local council elections are less than three months away. A General Election has to be called before the middle of June.

Anyway it was back to business as usual at the main planning committee last night. The public had turned up in force. There was even a reporter from the local press.

Most of the interest was for the redevelopment of the now derelict “Furniture Land” building on the High Road North Finchley. The proposal was to build flats with retail units on the ground floor. Local residents were not happy. They had prepared their arguments and speakers gave very convincing arguments why they thought the application should be refused. I should of course intervene here and emphasise Planning Committee Members would never base their decisions just on the objections of local people!

I was a bit confused by the application. The papers indicated that part of the ground floor development could house a new library (in place of the existing North Finchley Library) and a new Doctors Surgery (to replace a nearby surgery). It was argued that these two proposals would increase the number of people walking to and fro and regenerate this part of North Finchley. On the other hand no provision was being made for any parking for staff, patients and library visitors. This promise of jam tomorrow was not in my mind very convincing.

The Committee was not convinced either and the application was thrown out. The committee concluded the density was too high.

By this time it was almost 9pm. In two hours we had dealt with two applications. The Chairman who already had tried to cut things short attempted a new technique for the remaining items. It is usual to invite Committee Members to ask questions to public speakers. The Chairman did indeed do this. Except when it came to asking questions she uttered all in one breath “any question? No, - thank you.” So we got through the rest of Agenda by 10.00pm.

One of the things that amuse me at planning is the way applicants try to present their schemes in the best light. Often they use artist impressions or computer generated images to show off the scheme.

Two cases in point last night were the Furniture Land development and a proposal for a hotel in Cricklewood Broadway. Cricklewood Broadway is probably one of the busiest roads in North London with the High Road North Finchley not far behind. Cut now to the Developers images of their shiny new buildings. They picture a street scene, blue skies (it is never cloudy in the land of architects) scores of pedestrians in holiday mood strolling casually along and wait for it one car on either side of the road. Oh happy days!