GLA Approves Arada’s Great North Leisure Park development!

Around twenty five of Our North Finchley’s campaigners journeyed to City Hall for the public hearing on the Great North Leisure Park, on Wednesday 27 May 2026. After nearly two hours of listening to speakers for and against the application, and a further hour or so in recess, unelected official, Jules Pipe, reversed Barnet Council’s decision and granted permission for Regal-Arada’s application to proceed.

Many of us felt the decision was made in advance and the public hearing was nothing short of a show trial. Of course, we can’t really prove this, but there were one or two signs that this was a done deal:

The decision statement involved multiple instances of copy-pasting from the GLA report. Important angles, like the high usage of the restaurants, cinema and bowling sites by young people and disabled and elderly adults, which Councillor Charli Thompson put forward, were ignored, despite the issues being raised in the hearing.

The decision also failed to address the high cost to taxpayers. Michael Levitsky made some excellent points about this, pointing out issues with the calculation of the affordability threshold and viability assessments, as well as Regal-Arada’s greedy intention to fast track development so they can exploit the recently announced 50% discount to Community Infrastructure Levy.

In his Q&A to the objectors, Jules Pipe also – somewhat aggressively, we feel – put forward the suggestion that we wanted no development at all, despite what was said in our representations. In other words, he’d made up his mind we were all NIMBYs. Never mind Mary Hogben’s excellent point that the Local Plan has always made clear that there is provision for circa 350-450 homes on the site.

There was also a stonking omission of evidence underlying the developer team’s arguments. Every time they said the site is “underused” we knew they hadn’t actually done the footfall assessments for the entertainments. And when – even in the GLA officer Neil Smith’s report – they declared they had only done a “desk study and field surveys” of the Glebelands Local Nature Reserve, we know those were done without license, expertise or in the correct season for accurate data about newts, bats, slowworms and so on. In other words, their arguments are bunkum.

What is absolutely clear is that, as our campaign has progressed the decision about what happens to our community, our neighbourhood has slipped further and further away from Finchley. Did Neil Smith visit the Great North Leisure Park? Did Jules Pipe? They have taken Barnet Council’s reports, skimmed them, and rubber stamped them, all in the name of Steve ‘Build Baby Build’ Reed’s privatisation-driven housing policy.

The fight isn’t over, however. The last option available to us is a Judicial Review, where we take the case to the courts and argue that the government haven’t followed their own procedures correctly.

This will be expensive, and highly technical. We need good lawyers, a barrister and a lot of money to pay fees. And our legal team need to be convinced of the viability of this option. So, we are waiting on their advice for confirmation, but so far, informally, they are making positive noises.

We have been absolutely amazed over the last week and a half by the generosity of the community. There’s a long way to go before we can cover the full costs of the case. We are fundraising hard now, but we will also need to rely on the generosity of some major backers if we are to see this case heard in court.

We are reaching out to celebrities, press and media, donors – everyone we can. If you know someone who knows someone, please reach out and let them know about what we’re doing.

You can donate to the fund here – any amount will help, but please dig deep.