Planned residential high-rise redevelopment of Cockfosters Car Park

Latest newsletter from CLARA (Cockfosters & Local Area Residents' Association)  September 2025

Summary:

This Newsletter focuses principally on developments on the TFL Plans for Redevelopment of Cockfosters Station Car Park. We expect TFL to reactivate those plans in the coming week in an amended application, to be submitted by its new partner Barratt.

Update on Cockfosters Station Car Park:

The plans by a joint-venture of TfL and Grainger were approved at Enfield Council’s Planning Committee in early 2023, receiving official validation in September 2023. Despite opposition from unparalleled numbers of Enfield and Barnet residents, as well as users of the car park from outside the immediate area, Enfield Planning Officers and the Planning Committee (on the Chair’s casting vote) chose to ignore wide-ranging grounds for objection. Our subsequent attempt to have the scheme called- in by the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, were refused despite it satisfying recognised tests that he should do. The plans were initially stalled as the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, refused his required consent to the transfer of the site to the  joint-venture -  but that was reversed by his successor.

Subsequent to the project approval, new post-Grenfell design-codes (introduced 2024) meant that significant additional measures (such as dual-staircases) would need to be incorporated. The approval of safety designs for tall-buildings now resides with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), which is part of the HSE (Health & Safety Executive).

At CLARA's public meeting at Christ Church in September 2024, we explained to attendees that the existing design, and that of its sister project at Arnos Grove Station, produced only marginal returns. We suggested that revisions, to comply with new safety codes, would probably render the project unviable: So it has proved, with Grainger now withdrawing from both Cockfosters and Arnos Grove - the latter of which still sits derelict following closure.

In recent weeks, we have learned that TfL has now involved Barratt Homes to progress the development at Cockfosters, but not at Arnos Grove. On a broadly parallel time-line, Barratt is also progressing plans to redevelop the Station Car Park at High Barnet - where the plans for public consultation will close on 19 September.

Probable New Planning Application:

On 10 September, we had a constructive discussion with Barratt. We are told to expect public consultation on a new Planning Application starting during the coming week. This will be sent to Enfield and Barnet Local Councillors, MPs, AMs and various residents associations as well as  approximately 5K local residents.

We have yet to see the exact details of the new scheme. However, we are told that it is broadly comparable to the approved plans: it will be submitted as a so-called ‘Section 73’ variation of the extant scheme. We have yet to determine if that will be permissible.

The approval was previously for 351 residential units in 4 high-rise towers - 3 stepped towers on the main car-park and one on the Cockfosters Road adjacent to the station entrance. The revised scheme is broadly, but not exactly, comparable. It would involve some increase in mass of the 4 towers, but not the overall height, to provide for an additional 22 flats.

Again, only a limited number of blue-badge and drop-off parking spaces would be retained. However, LU Tube staff will still have reserved parking. 

The previous Grainger proposals were exclusively Build-to-Rent (BTR) but with supposedly 40 percent ‘affordable’ homes at a discount from market rent. The Barratt scheme will no longer be BTR but will be 60 percent for sale (with shared-ownership options) and with 40 percent for affordable or perhaps social rent.

Proposed Project Timeline:

• Submission of Planning Application - Around October 2025 

• Approval of New Detailed Plans by BSR - timing and process uncertain.

• Possible Closure of Car Park and Start of Construction - 2027/28.

Associated Concerns:

So we are faced with the near-total loss of the parking at the Northern terminus of the Piccadilly Line, and for that matter at end of  the Northern Line. TFL, The Mayor and Enfield Council place housing needs above the needs of the travelling public and to the disregard of the equalities needs of the aged, disabled and female travellers. Nevertheless, we can still expect drivers in cars to arrive.

As with the previous scheme, there would be a number of implications for local residents. Aside from increased pressure on local amenities and infrastructure, there will need be consultations on the probable implementation of Controlled Parking Zones in most roads in both the Enfield and Barnet parts of Cockfosters. Paid parking in Trent Park might also be contemplated. The attempted introduction of these kind of proposals at Arnos Grove has been controversial.

We will need to digest the details of the new Application and will be organising a public meeting for members and residents at the earliest opportunity.

We will keep you updated once we have additional information.

Previous News

You can download the above slides from the 17-Sep-24 public meeting here (PDF 207 KB)

We were featured on BBC London News on the evening of Sunday 8th September 2024:

Louise Haigh, the new Secretary of State for Transport has ALLOWED TfL's plans!

We discovered, on Tuesday 3rd September 2024, that TfL has been allowed to dispose of the park-and-ride facility and build tower blocks on the car park. The Save Cockfosters team quickly mobilised, and got a report on ITV London News that same evening:

"The new Labour government has given Transport for London (TfL) the green light to build hundreds of affordable homes near Cockfosters tube station, overriding a decision from the former Conservative transport secretary Grant Shapps to block the project.

Shapps controversially intervened to stop the proposals in March 2022, using obscure legal powers that require TfL to seek government permission to sell land used for its operational purposes.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced on Tuesday that Labour had approved the disposal of the land and the new development could proceed, three years after TfL first requested consent.

It means 350 new homes will be built at Cockfosters station car park on the northern end of the Picadilly Line. Some 40 per cent will be affordable, according to the Mayor’s office.

The project, spanning 1.36 hectares, also intends to develop commercial spaces in the local area, improve public access to the nearby Trent Park and London Outer Orbital Path and replace the hard surfaces of nearby open spaces with new trees and greenery.

“Building homes right next to public transport connections is a key part of our plans to deliver the high-quality homes Londoners need,” Khan said in a statement.

“This important project will deliver new commercial space, increase green space and, most importantly, it will provide the affordable housing that I have pledged to deliver for Londoners.”

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “I’m delighted to finally unblock this important project to kickstart the development of hundreds of much needed new homes in Enfield.

“This government is committed to getting Britain building and working with local leaders to boost regional growth.”

The move from Labour is yet another signal of its intention to press ahead with major infrastructure developments despite local opposition."

Article copied from City AM

Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport vetoed TfL's plans!

The previous programme was on Radio London on 23rd February 2022:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OStGrwPe9rWSkGIuuqJ1MiEQtzGQvG2c/view?usp=sharing

The CLARA / Save Cockfosters team's report on
Enfield's Planning Committee Meeting:

As many will probably know, the Planning Application for conversion of the Car Park at Cockfosters Station was approved by the Enfield Planning Committee on Thursday evening (3rd Feb 2022). The decision was passed on the casting vote of the Committee chair, Cllr Boztas, after the vote was tied 6-6 between Committee members.

This decision was at odds with key planning policies on Tall Buildings and Heritage, in particular. The Save Cockfosters Team, along with Councillors and others, were able to provide a wide range of substantial written and oral evidence for rejection of the Application. It is also our opinion that officers made a number of incorrect answers on points of detail and serially misdirected the Committee. 

The Save Cockfosters Team and CLARA, maintain the view that the development will potentially be very damaging to Cockfosters. The Planning Committee have, by their actions, shown a total disregard for users of the Park-and-Ride amenity as well as safety and equalities concerns for women, the aged and disabled. The potential adverse impacts on our local road and social infrastructure were, in effect, acknowledged but discounted.

We would again thank those who provided submissions to the consultation, who contributed to the small Save Cockfosters fighting fund and those who committed their time and energy to opposing this cynical application. The decision is profoundly disappointing to those of us who live in Cockfosters and value the environment of our ‘village’ and the surrounding park and Green Belt.

The Save Cockfosters Team is now considering any and all options as to whether this recommendation to grant approval could be overturned. It is clear that our options are limited, also they might be expensive and will require considerable effort;  but we do have a sizeable body of evidence as to why the Planning Committee’s decision should be set aside.

We shall update you further once we have more information. 

CLARA team