Despite 334 objections Haringay Local Planning Authority has approved the CMP for 3 Francis Place. Officers at the council estimate there could be between 800 and 1250 vehicle movements on the Walk over a 33 week period. The Friends are considering its response to this decision. In the meantime the owner still has a number of hurdles to jump. There will need to be agreements with Haringey's Transportation dept. over access with the transportation department and details such as the piping of concrete are yet to be agreed. The owner will also seek to secure a licence from the land owner (Haringey Council under the administration of the Parks Department) to access the plot over the Parkland Walk. This part of the process is conducted under private law and is completely separate from planning law. The situation is comparable to a scenario where your next door neighbour gets planning approval for works on their property and then negotiates with you to drive plant and lorries through your garden. You are under no legal obligation to allow them access over your land regardless of any planning permission they have. That should in itself be enough. In this case there are also 13 covenants in the deeds that reinforce the private rights of the landowner. The property owner may seek to muddle the two processes by arguing that it would be perverse for the council to prevent the development after it has given approval, but the LPA and Haringay Council as landowner are entirely distinct from each other and landowner rights still apply. Our petition, which calls on Haringey Council to uphold the covenants and reject the use of the Parkland Walk, has reached 2,323 and we believe this mandate makes it clear that, on no account should the Council, waive any of the covenants or its rights as landowner and guardian of a public asset. In fact we have considerably more support than any single councillor had votes at the last local election. The report... http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/AttachmentShowServlet?ImageName=829506 ...points out inconsistencies and refers to the fact that implementation of the CMP is dependent on access being approved by Haringey Council Parks and also makes references to the fact that the applicant has indicated that the project could be carried out using wheel barrows. Even that would require a licence to waiver a covenant that prevents the removal of soil and clay. It's very difficult when you read the Planning Officer's report, to understand how this got through given the scale and detail of the objections, but it is not the end of the story and we do believe that the response from the Parks Department... http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/AttachmentShowServlet?ImageName=829394 ... suggests they intend to resist vigorously. What can you do? At this stage, writing to the press expressing your views, and copying those views to the Leader of the Council, Claire Kober, and Peray Ahmet (newly appointed Cabinet Member for Environment) will help ensure that those involved with this in the Council are in no doubt about the strength of public feeling. As I post this, the petition is 13 votes short of equalling the highest number of votes any single councillor got in the lat local elections. Let's see if we can't get those 13 signatures so the Ham and High has some good copy for next week's newspaper.