Finchley Central Draft Town Centre Strategy

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this link

This consultation has now closed.

All the responses from the consultation have been taken into account. The council has published the findings under ‘We asked, You said, We Did’ below.

Overview

The Finchley Central Town Centre Project commenced in mid-2016 to generate a town centre plan for Finchley Central. This project aims to deliver a comprehensive strategy for the Town Centre to identify and enable future investment in the town centre.

In order to develop this strategy, we have been involving residents, councillors and businesses in a number of community engagement exercises and consultations including but not limited to ‘Shaping Finchley’s Future’ in November 2016

All the responses from the consultation have been taken into account. The council has published the findings under ‘We asked, You said, We Did’ below.

Overview

The Finchley Central Town Centre Project commenced in mid-2016 to generate a town centre plan for Finchley Central. This project aims to deliver a comprehensive strategy for the Town Centre to identify and enable future investment in the town centre.

In order to develop this strategy, we have been involving residents, councillors and businesses in a number of community engagement exercises and consultations including but not limited to ‘Shaping Finchley’s Future’ in November 2016, ‘Hello, is it Finchley you are looking for’ a highsteet consultation base set up outside Tesco with local residents on the 17th and 21st September 2016 and a business survey conducted the Summer of 2016.

At the Shaping Finchley’s Future event, a number of residents indicated that they would like to see this initial draft strategy in order to provide more in depth feedback. In response to this, we have made the draft strategy available here and are seeking feedback.

The Town Centre Plan aims to:

  • establish civic centres and public spaces at the core of the high street.
  • support vital employment clusters as a key employment hub for the borough.
  • identify development growth opportunities within the Town Centre.
  • make the most of heritage assets by proposing high quality public realm improvements and reaffirming the historical identity of the area.
  • improve gateways through developments, focusing on the two station gateway points into Finchley Central.
  • ease pedestrian and cycle movement with long-term wider transport infrastructure improvements.
  • create an inclusive high street that serves both local residents and worker throughout the week whilst supporting the evenining and weekend economy.
  • establish a unique identity for the town centre which celebrates its unique charactre and asssets both historically and in present time.

The strategy has been developed in the context of the council’s Entrepreneurial Barnet Strategy and the place-based commissioning approach, which focusses on joining up council services in order to provide a better overall experience for residents and businesses.

To find out more about the strategy, please take the time to read our consultation document.

Why we are consulting

Having received feedback from residents and businesses at the ‘Shaping Finchley’s Future’ event on the 30th November 2016, we are making this document available for residents to have the time to digest the draft strategy and provide feedback as we look to revise the document prior to finalisation.

This consultation has now closed.

  • Feedback Updated 25 May 2017

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this link

    We asked

    We asked for your views on our Finchley Church End Town Centre Strategy.

    The strategy identified several key proposals which ranged from improving and establishing civic spaces to improving pedestrian and cycling movement through a revised key junction.

    The consultation was carried out on the 30th November 2016 and involved an evening exposition at the Wohl Centre in Finchley Church End with the architects, LBB and large printed copies of the strategy for people to read. The session was a great success with over 100 locals attending to let their opinions known and a large number of people completing the online survey.

    You said

    The opinions were fairly varied and diverse, bringing into consideration all of the different elements of the strategy. However there were certain elements of the strategy that had an overwhelming response from multiple respondents.

    A lot of respondents agreed that there was a real issue with the lack of parking in the local area and thought the idea of more development in the area would make this issue a lot worse than it already is.

    There was a mismatch of opinions when it game to potential junction changes and the introduction of cycle lanes through key junctions and roads throughout Church End. A lot of people agreed with the proposed cycle lanes as the current roads are not suitable/safe for cyclists. However, the introduction of cycle lanes mean narrower lanes/less lanes for traffic which many people frowned upon due to the high level of traffic currently.

    We did

    All of the feedback from the consultation evening was considered, resulting in many of the respondent’s issues and comments being added into the revised strategy

    With regards to parking, a full parking study will need to be undertaken prior to the redevelopment of the station car park and other public realm enhancements. Where there is a demand, parking will be reprovided.

    The strategy proposes that the junctions and carriageway along Ballards Lane should be remodelled to prioritise creating wider pavements and cycling lanes. A comprehensive traffic modelling study needs to be carried out to ensure a positive outcome for all users of the town centre.