This week, Nimby Watch is in Hendon, a settlement since Roman times and which has had its name – Anglo-Saxon for ‘high hill’ – since at least 1005.
Alright. Hendon. Why? Let’s show a bit of enthusiasm for Hendon, shall we? You’re clearly not an aviation history buff – Hendon was the first home of the Royal Air Force, and the first ever airmail flight left from here.
Yes, but that’s not why we’re here, is it? No, we’re here because someone wants to build something and other people want to stop them.
Thought so. Give me the details, then. Well, there are plans for development on a site ‘slap bang in the middle’ of what is currently West Hendon Playing Fields. Activists organising against it warn of ‘floodlighting, noise, extended evening use’, creating ‘a 24/7 floodlit eyesore in a tranquil much-loved space’.
Hang on, you’re not supporting building over playing fields, are you? We need kids to have space to play! Heck, adults need places to do sports, too! You know what? You’ve got a point there. They really do.
Wait. You never agree with me. What have I missed? Well, you never asked what was being built, and I didn’t have a chance to tell you yet. Barnet Council is trying to build a floodlit football pitch, alongside a unit to act as toilets, changing rooms and a small café.
Oh, I see what you did there. You made me trap myself by saying people should be allowed to do sport, didn’t you? Yes, I did. And my cunning plan worked perfectly.
Much as you’re trying to railroad me, I’m still going to hear out the objections. Why don’t people like the plan? Okay, let’s do this the long way. There are several main reasons. As you might have gathered, people don’t like the idea of floodlights. There are also concerns because the pitch is artificial, and other residents are worried that the development will interfere with nesting for local birds.
More than 40 residents have objected to the plans, with objections including putting a football field ‘on one of the last pristine wild life spots in London’, that ‘there is no mitigation plan for the extra visitors that will impact parking for the local residents’ and ‘there will be a significant impact of the noise and lights on people’.
Well, those sound pretty legitimate to me. Why would you try to build a football pitch in the middle of what sounds like a nature sanctuary? Well, let me remind you of the name of the site: West Hendon Playing Fields. The locals are genuinely objecting to the idea of building a football pitch in the middle of an area full of… football pitches. Surely if any site is suitable, it’s this?
What about the floodlights? I wouldn’t want a ‘24/7 floodlit eyesore’ blaring into my house. Well, it hopefully shouldn’t come as a surprise when I tell you Barnet Council isn’t planning to operate its new football pitch 24 hours a day, seven days a week – it has strict rules over how much illumination would be provided, with full lighting only for competitive matches, dimmer lighting for training, and a strict 22:15 lights out rule.
One of the 30+ planning documents submitted by Barnet Council when applying to itself for planning permission details the painstaking, if depressing, attention to detail put into minimising the impact of the lighting: ‘The galvanised (Z275) finish is acknowledged to be the most discreet in the predominantly grey UK sky,’ it notes.
Okay, fine, but what about building over one of the few natural green spaces left in London? Surely, we can both agree that one is an exaggeration. But let’s be generous and just look at local spaces in Hendon. Just across the water from the playing fields is York Park, while Woodfield Park is about 500 feet from the south end of the playing fields. Somewhat between the two is an allotment site. If that wasn’t enough, the Welsh Harp open space is next to Brent Reservoir, still just a few hundred feet from the playing fields.
That’s… quite comprehensive. I wasn’t even done. A couple of hundred yards away from these playing fields – which, you might note, are playing fields and not a wildlife sanctuary – you can find the much larger Fryent Country Park. Notably, unlike West Hendon Playing Fields, this park is an actual local nature reserve.
So…these playing fields were not also somehow the only nature reserve left in Hendon? They were not.
Fine, you win. I think I might, grudgingly, have to say I’m in favour of building a football pitch among football pitches. Welcome to the cause! If only the locals felt the same way.
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