A “mega substantial” sum is to be spent on an extra site next to a planned waste and vehicle depot.

Barnet Borough Council will buy the lease on the Winters Haulage site in New Southgate, next to the Abbots Depot, after the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Hugh Rayner, used his casting vote to push through plans tonight.

The authority is due to move out of its current depot in Mill Hill next year, and is negotiating buying the Abbots site, in Oakleigh Road South, to store its rubbish trucks, a bulking facility and a fuel station.

People living nearby have expressed concerns that it would worsen traffic problems in the area, as well as pollution and noise, and showed their opposition from the public gallery tonight.

Proposals were put forward to take on the Winters site, currently used by a skip company, as the council claims this would ease traffic problems by cutting the number of truck journeys.

The site would cost £81,500 to rent each year, and Barnet Council will have to pay a one-off incentive sum, which has not been made public for commercial reasons.

However, Brunswick Park councillor Kathy Levine told the chamber the Winters lease was up for sale anyway by its owners Network Rail, and described the money involved as a “mega substantial sum”.

Cllr Levine said: “Let’s be absolutely clear, local residents do not want the council’s waste depot on the Abbots site. No ifs, no buts, just no.

“The Abbots site is surrounded by residents and is overlooked by residents. The whole area is congested, with a local park near it and a nursery next to it. Do our residents matter?”

Cllr Levine urged councillors to think of the “social costs as well as the financial costs” of the depot.

Conservative deputy leader of Barnet Council, Councillor Dan Thomas, praised the Winters proposal as a “common sense, sensible solution”.

Cllr Thomas added: “If councillors want less traffic on this stretch of road they should vote for the lease of Winters, because Winters generates 250 trucks. A council depot is 127. That is an awful lot less traffic.”

The Conservatives currently have no majority on the council and there were shouts of “you let us down” from the public gallery as the item was pushed through using the mayor's casting vote.