Concerns over redevelopment of timber yard in Wood Green

No affordable homes are proposed and the design of the scheme has been slammed by councillors as “ugly”, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans for 36 homes in Wood Green on the site of a timber yard have been met with concerns around design and a lack of affordable housing.

Haringey Council’s planning sub-committee discussed the pre-application submitted by site owner John Silvester, founder of Wood Green Timber Co. Ltd, on Monday (2nd).

But committee members described the design of the prospective residential buildings as “ugly”.

The buildings on the site, located at 289-295 High Road, will be demolished and two five-storey buildings built in their place. To the rear, five mews buildings, three storeys in height, will be built.

A housing mix of ten three-bedroom properties, six two-bedroom properties, and 20 one-bedroom properties has been proposed.

The development currently proposes no affordable housing, however.

Labour councillor and committee member Cathy Brennan asked for an update and the applicant stated the scheme currently was not able to support affordable housing.

Cllr Brennan also said the design of the two blocks, that will front High Road, didn’t “charm” her. She added the high-walled balconies, a feature on mews properties, were “hidden” and the plan lacked any landscaping.

Labour councillor and committee member John Bevan said he thought the scheme looked like an “ad hoc mess”. He said: “There seems to be different angle insets, it’s not a flat fronted scheme facing High Road, to me it looks a bit of a mess.”

Chair Barbara Blake agreed, saying the applicant “ought to have a better design”.

In response, Richard Truscott, a council officer, said: “It’s a working progress, it’s evolving, it’s not a completed design and I’m sure they [the applicant] will carry on improving it.”

He added: “I think it’s a promising design and it’s going in the right direction, it’s got some elegant proportions to it, verticality to the windows and a strong base.

“The high balconies have been challenged and so we encouraged them to be moved to the rear but we want to avoid overlooking the back gardens and windows of neighbouring houses.”

Following the meeting, Frances Young from SY2 Planning, representing the applicant, said: “The Wood Green Timber Yard scheme is currently at pre-application stage and the applicant team is grateful to the planning sub-committee for their comments.

“We are presently finalising the proposed design and will carefully consider the comments made by the committee alongside the responses from other stakeholders.

“The application will then be submitted to Haringey for full consideration. The application will include a full set of documents; amongst these will be a viability report which will analyse the potential for any affordable housing contribution and will be discussed further with officers and their viability consultants.”

A full application is set to be submitted in autumn.

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