Amendments to a housing project have been given the green light by Harrow Council.
The plan to develop the White Lion Ground, which used to be owned by the now-disbanded Edgware Town football club, was approved by the authority's planning committee in April 2010, but the project that would bring 189 flats to the area returned to the committee on Wednesday last week after owner Weston Homes applied to make adjustments.
The alterations, that would alter the appearance of the accommodation and surrounding landscaping, were approved by the council, who welcome the development as a way of tackling the borough's housing need.
Harrow Council's planning director Stephen Kelly said: “There is a huge demand for housing in Harrow and the council is planning carefully to address that demand at a variety of sites across the borough."
In the case of the Edgware Town FC site, outline planning permission was granted some years ago, in 2009. As a result, the Council has already taken action to anticipate the increased demand on services the extra homes in the area will bring, including road usage and schools uptake.
Members of the committee will obviously consider the proposals before them carefully, taking into account the views expressed, before reaching their decision.”
The new estate will include nine three-storey terraced houses, a pair of semi-detached three-story houses, three three-storey blocks of flats, one five-storey block of flats and a tower of six floors containing apartments.
Neighbours of the ground were consulted on the amendments after being notified via post on October 10, with a deadline of November 7.
The council wrote again to households on December 16 to ask for opinions on another amendment to the development which would change the placement of trees on the estate.
An automatically-generated deadline for responses was set for December 25, Christmas Day, irking one neighbour, Jack Welby of Merlin Crescent, Edgware, who took issue with the process at the planning committee meeting.
He said after the meeting: "It appears that they do not take consulting their residents seriously."
A council spokeswoman however told the Observer that so minor were the changes that the council did not have a statutory duty to consult on them, but did so to ensure transparency and accepted contributions after the deadline.
