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Green belt land in Enfield, north London has been in the spotlight much more than usual in the past few months. Most of that is because of controversial plans for Whitewebbs Park (pictured above), part of which will be built on by Tottenham Hotspur FC to become home to a new football academy.
Just down the road, however, are more huge changes coming to Enfield’s green belt. Crews Hill, an area with only a few hundred residents, is set to get 10,000 new homes.
Crews Hill is one of two London areas set to become a ‘new town’ over the next few years. The government’s New Towns Taskforce was established in order to build up to 12 new settlements across the UK by the next election, and it has Crews Hill in its sights. Over the weekend (on September 28), the taskforce officially confirmed that Crews Hill is recommended as a location for a ‘new town’, after reports were published by Enfield Dispatch and OnLondon earlier in the month.
Up to now Crews Hill has been mostly known for its garden centres and golf course. The area has a train station – operated by Great Northern – with trains to Finsbury Park, Old Street and Moorgate. It is the northernmost settlement in Greater London.
The local council already had plans for the area, earmarking it for 5,500 new homes, but ‘new town’ status will boost that to a minimum of 10,000. The other part of the capital that is also getting ‘new town’ status is Thamesmead in southeast London, which is set to double in size and get a new DLR stop in the coming years.
The Taskforce wrote about the ‘new town’ location at Crews Hill: ‘An expanded development bringing together Chase Park and Crews Hill in Enfield; delivering green development and helping address London’s acute housing need.’
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