Barnet (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Barnet Council’s stance on Barnet FC’s return remains unclear after rejected proposals and confusion over alternative sites, leaving the club’s future in limbo.
The League Two football team, which is now situated in the nearby borough of Harrow, submitted proposals to construct a 7,000-seat stadium on Barnet Playing Fields, which is near the location of their former Underhill home.
However, the suggestions were rejected at a strategic planning committee meeting on July 14.
Council officers voiced concerns that the development was unsuitable because it was located within the Green Belt and would result in the loss of public open space, despite the committee’s overall support.
Bring Back Barnet and Save Barnet Playing Fields were two advocacy groups that sat on opposing sides of the argument, further dividing people.
However, when remarks made during the full council meeting on July 8th were brought up, misunderstanding regarding the existence of alternate sites resulted.
The council leader said that three or four locations had been proposed to the football club and that the council was expecting a response when Conservative councillor David Longstaff asked what the council’s “preferred site” would be.
It was evident at the strategic planning discussion that the public was unaware of these locations.
Two days later, on the 16th, the council retracted its position, stating that they had “never offered” the football team other venues but that they had had “an initial discussion” with Barnet FC about “potential” locations “several years ago.”
According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request filed in August, a meeting was held on July 20, 2022, two months after Labour replaced the Conservatives as the ruling party.
Although the meeting was “unminuted” the FOI showed that leader Barry Rawlings, the previous chief executive John Hooton, the executive director for communities, adults and health Dawn Wakeling, and the assistant director of greenspaces and leisure Cassie Bridge, were in attendance.
Responding to questions over why Cllr Rawlings viewed the football stadium issue as important enough to take the chief executive and other senior officers to meet the club, and why did he have any plans to meet with the club again following the failed application, a Barnet Labour group spokesperson said:
“Barnet FC requested a meeting just after the local elections in May 2022 to discuss their wish to return to the borough.
We have always said we would welcome the club’s return to Barnet if a suitable site could be found.”
What reasons did councillors give for rejecting the Underhill proposal?
The primary reason given referred to “inappropriate development within the Green Belt” when the likely harm to the Green Belt’s openness and character was significant and irreversible.
The application included the loss of public open space, and protection toward playing fields, and, as a result, local groups and councillors claimed that these must be saved for community use. The site did not meet the new “grey belt” rules that allowed building on previously developed or lesser Green Belt land, (unless exceptional need was proven).
The extensive officer planning report considered matters such as new jobs, local economic benefits, and community sport/ leisure facilities, but overall suggested that the harm caused to the Green Belt outweigh these benefits.