This is an excellent report - well worth reading - picks up on a lot of the key housing issues/challenges/thinking.

"Sources with knowledge of Criterion’s business say that the ultimate plan is to evict almost all private tenants and redeploy hundreds of flats as temporary accommodation units that can be rented to local councils for far more money."

There’s been a sharp increase in the number of empty homes in Enfield over the last four to five years. Around 750 homes could be brought back into use if "long-term" and "Council-owned" empty homes were reduced just to the average vacancy rate. betterhomes-enfield.org/2026/02/11/t...

A thousand trees planted at Meridian Water. That's less than 1 per full-time blue-collar job LOST when the site was cleared for housing (which could not be built, as the land is protected employment land).

Council criticised over maps which omit Whitewebbs Park An empty white space in the area of Whitewebbs Park is shown on the council-produced map supposed to be highlighting public green spaces enfielddispatch.co.uk/council-crit...

Shared ownership homes should not be classified as "affordable" for planning purposes in London - it's highly misleading and means less genuinely affordable homes get delivered e.g. social rent

Why were the other 4 London sites rejected?

The bottom line: since 2010, Enfield has gone backwards on Social Rent housing. Enfield Council has been amongst the worst in London for building new Social Rent homes. betterhomes-enfield.org/2026/02/04/e...

Delivery at MW has been poor compared to similar schemes. 10k homes? That’s not what their new Local Plan says. 6k jobs? That’s an old target based on office jobs! Delivery rates unknown? So how does their budget work? The sooner Enfield Council get out of the way the better.

Using greenfield land for housing is one thing, but Enfield Council selling off a public park on the cheap to a mega-rich football club is quite another.

London needs rent controls. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Mr Pennycook was right when he urged the Tories to be brave in standing up to property investors. He and his colleagues should try a dose of the same medicine." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The word "affordable" is mentioned over 80x in the Planning Statement alone, yet it seems almost impossible to work out how many of the homes will actually be genuinely affordable. Why so vague for something so important?

The cross-subsidy model of house building will never deliver the homes Londoners need. Only a major programme of government funded council house building will do that.

"This is not the first time we have found this council failing to use its powers to tackle antisocial behaviour. We are concerned this points to a wider problem with how it runs this service and the effectiveness of local oversight." (Chief Executive - Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman)

Crews Hill has clear potential, but risks are also obvious, including lost jobs, car-dependent sprawl, and shaky affordable housing commitments. These require more than just wishful thinking. A new town must not be at the expense of jobs and must deliver genuinely affordable, well-connected homes.

In the space of just 3 months Enfield Council has admitted to up to £11m in delay costs, neglected to account for a strategic water main derailing years of planning, and forgotten about housing sites for c. 700 homes. Independent scrutiny of Meridian Water is long overdue.

For many residents, planning committees are where they experience local democracy first-hand. Our new article examines issues with Enfield’s Planning Committee over the last year, declining public trust, and what happens when standards fall short. betterhomes-enfield.org/2026/01/13/e...

There’s land at Crews Hill that should be considered for new social rent and affordable housing. But the existing businesses provide hundreds of jobs and major economic benefit. Steamrollering over them is unnecessary and shows a worrying lack of concern for people’s jobs and the local economy.

Enfield Council had a good opportunity to develop robust planning policies to control the spread of gambling premises through its new Local Plan but that opportunity was wasted

This is deeply embarrassing for Enfield. The chair of the planning committee has been operating an HMO without planning permission, and her comments suggest she didn’t even understand the rules she is meant to uphold. (1 of 4)

Steve Reed: "A system saying 'no' more often than it says 'yes'". That very clearly isn't true and it is hard to maintain respect for politicians who say uninformed things like this.

Welcome news for Age UK Enfield and a much-needed dementia day centre in Brimsdown 👏 It is very concerning that Enfield’s proposed new Local Plan - costing £7m - fails to plan for dementia care, despite clear evidence of need and the requirement to include it. Huge oversight.

"It’s outrageous that the council has not only cut the support available, but has shown no restraint in sending in the bailiffs to these households, adding more stress and fear to people already in difficult circumstances.”

Enfield Council has decided to acquire and convert 219 private sales homes to social rent to help developer complete project following a sharp slowdown in private sales which made the project unviable to be completed. www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/enfield...

Very encouraging to see a renewed focus on listening, and collaboration - would be great to see the community and developers working together to deliver this. Also interesting to see a much tighter proposed development area (red line) - makes sense.

Excellent reporting from Enfield Dispatch. - Enfield is now amongst worst local authorities across the country for deprivation (parts of Edmonton among the 2% most deprived). - 55.5% of children live in income deprived households. #rentcaps #welfarereform #councilhousing #protectjobs

12–15 years for a council home? Short term we need rent controls + welfare reform. Longer term we need proper government investment in real council housing, not reliance on a market cross-subsidy model which doesn't deliver. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Claims that City Hall 'embellished' affordable housing figures Sir Sadiq Khan accused of “misleading” voters in last year’s election campaign enfielddispatch.co.uk/claims-that-...

Enfield’s residents and businesses deserve confidence that decisions are transparent and fair. After these revelations 👇, Enfield’s Monitoring Officer should review any potential conduct concerns. #Enfield #Accountability

It's good news that there will now be more affordable housing available on this development. It also shows that grant funding is currently essential to getting sites built out in Enfield, even for low rise and relatively low density schemes.

Enfield has gone backwards on sustainable transport Vicki Pite of Enfield Climate Action Forum’s land use working group examines the borough's recent record on transport enfielddispatch.co.uk/enfield-has-...

Yet another expensive error at Meridian Water - Enfield Council's flagship regeneration project. The mayor or the government should take control of this failing project if they're serious about tackling London's housing crisis @tomcopley.bsky.social @julespipe.bsky.social #MeridianWater

Council 'ignoring its own advice' on tall buildings in Enfield Town The Enfield Society warns of risk of "substantial harm" to St Andrew's Church from building heights included in the Local Plan enfielddispatch.co.uk/council-igno...

Enfield Council criticised after domestic abuse victim forced to move ‘to other end of the country’. These issues seem to be a recurring theme for Enfield Council.

The local plan examination has revealed another major problem with Enfield Council's flagship development. First they forgot about land they own enfielddispatch.co.uk/missing-site... Now it seems they also forgot about the underground water mains which limit what can be built.

"This isn’t just a housing issue – it’s a public health emergency. "Fixing homes isn’t just a moral duty; it’s an economic necessity. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“There has been a huge amount of housing wealth concentration in the capital. Over-65s have gained £146billion in the last ten years and in 2024, 25% of property transactions involved overseas buyers. Together, that has created a situation where house prices have been decoupled from local demand.”

Council launches fresh consultation on landlord licensing The selective licensing scheme is designed to improve standards and is set to be expanded from 14 wards to 17 next year enfielddispatch.co.uk/council-laun...

Khan urged to focus on 'mid-rise' rather than high-rise homes to meet London target Paris and Auckland held up as best examples of using mid-rise developments of between five and nine storeys to maximise density enfielddispatch.co.uk/khan-urged-t...

Housing campaigners want firmer commitments around when Awaab's Law will extend to the private sector. "We've heard nothing from the government about when it will apply to private renters," says Renters Reform Coalition. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Affordable housing policy doesn’t just deliver affordable homes, it restrains speculative land value growth. Lowering targets releases that brake, enriching landowners while worsening London’s affordability crisis. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

One of many sites in this area that should be redeveloped for housing 👇

Enfield Council named as one of Labour’s housing hypocrisy councils @enfielddispatch.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

"London’s housing problem today is not primarily about over-regulation – it’s about the lack of demand." As Molior put it: “No buyers = no construction starts”. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

In Enfield, we are losing family homes to House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) conversions. Landlords buy up family houses and convert them into HMOs. Now the new council's Local Plan is proposing to remove the policy that helped control it. Families are being priced out and planned out.

🔥 "Existing buildings and infrastructure should be upgraded to withstand temperatures of at least 2C higher than normal by 2050. Any new constructions intended to last decades should be prepared for 4C above preindustrial levels" 🔥 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

🚨🚨 #Climate

There's a long way to go before #Enfield gets its New Town, says Sadiq Khan. Top City Hall reporting by @charleswright57.bsky.social: www.onlondon.co.uk/sadiq-khan-s... #london #housing @centreforcities.bsky.social @centreforlondon.bsky.social