Today, on 30 March 2026, planning permission was granted for a new dwelling at 28 Shepherds Close, a site that has been refused over eight times and dismissed on three appeals since 1979, including one just eleven months ago.

The decision was made by a single officer, without committee scrutiny, on a site directly adjoining Parkland Walk and within the Highgate Conservation Area.

This campaign has focused on planning failures, environmental harm, and how decisions are being made.

But there is something deeper at stake.

Along Parkland Walk and Shepherds Close, there is a quality many of us recognise.

A sense of openness, continuity, and life that is not easily replaced once lost.

It is the glimpse of trees above a fence line. The pause in built form that lets you see the slope of the land. The quiet presence of a corridor that has been here longer than any of the houses.

This is not just land.

It is part of a living corridor, shaped by trees, wildlife, and the quiet presence of space that allows the area to breathe.

In older traditions, places like this were understood as needing protection.

Not because they were owned, but because they mattered. 

There is a story of the Spriggan, a guardian of wild places and boundaries.

Whether or not we use that language, many people recognise the feeling;

That some places carry their own integrity.
That they are not empty.
And that when they are altered without care, something essential is diminished.

What we are seeing now is not just a planning decision.

It is part of a gradual erosion, where what is shared, living, and subtle is treated as incidental.

If this matters to you, there are simple ways to help.

• Sign the petition
• Share it with others who know the area 
• Add your voice, however briefly

These places are not protected by stories alone.

They are protected when people notice, care, and speak.

The Spriggan, in old stories, did not guard alone.

Neither do we

Thanks for reading