Open letter to Councillor Lynn Hillan, leader of Barnet Council:
On January 19, Barnet Council’s planning and environment committee granted Ravenscroft School planning consent to appropriate for private use a section of public Green Belt land within the broad meadow that forms part of the Dollis Valley.

Permission was granted in the face of the strongest of opposition.

Ravenscroft School, which already has several football pitches, could obtain access to at least 15 more within a very short walk, but has offered no sound justification as to why those cannot be used.

If playing football closer to the school is considered more convenient, no explanation has been given as to why the land cannot be used for that purpose during school hours without fencing it off to the public. It was claimed by the school that the proposal involved a “swap” for an adjoining field which, in the past, was used by pupils to play football.

However, this has no planning permission for use as a sports field, so there could be no “swap” in planning terms.

Although the field is owned by the borough “for educational purposes”, Ravenscroft School has never been granted any legal rights over it. Therefore, the school has no estate interest which it can surrender in exchange for the grant of exclusive possession of the proposed field.

It has been agreed Ravenscroft School is to become an academy, a legal and financial entity quite separate from the council, and it appears Barnet is intending to gift this valuable land free of charge.

It appears to The Barnet Society this represents a breach of the council’s duty in giving away a valuable asset at a time the council is slashing support for education and child-related services.

Has the school has notified the Government that it is to receive such a generous gift from the local education authority and revealed the exact value of this gift of land?

And has the council adjusted its financial accounts to show the financial loss to the public purse of gifting this site?

Derek Epstein
chairman of planning and environment, The Barnet Society