RESIDENTS have criticised a move to postpone a discussion about the future of New Barnet town centre until next year.

A decision to shelve public consultation on the New Barnet Town Centre Plan will be put before the Business Management Overview and Scrutiny Subcommittee meeting at Hendon Town Hall in The Burrowes tonight.

The strategy is important because the council's vision for the area will directly impact on the planning ambitions of two supermarket giants who have bought land in the area.

Tesco and ASDA now own huge chunks of land in New Barnet.

ASDA put in a planning application for a mixed use development of homes and a store on the former New Barnet Gas Works site off Albert Road earlier this year but withdrew it in July.

Tesco has yet to show its hand over its site between East Barnet Road and Victoria Road although it did get planning permission to build a Tesco Express on Victoria Road through on appeal in March. The council employed consultants in April this year to draw up a Town Centre Framework.

Residents were told it would be published in the summer and then in September and last month.

Secretary of the East Barnet Residents Association, Pauline Coakley Webb, said she suspected early next year would actually mean after the election.

“There shouldn't have been a delay. We feel frustrated because we know that this section of New Barnet needs something doing but the general feeling is that whatever happens we want the community to be involved in consulting people.

“We think it should be a case of what do people want in their area rather than what do these big businesses want?”

Mrs Coakley Webb said that in general residents felt that they had less and less of a say in planning in Barnet.

“Everything seems to have been trimmed you get less people told about the applications unless it goes around by word of mouth and people get less time to speak at planning meetings.”

She also expressed concern that the council's Future Shape plans, which include contracting out services to save money, would lead to more delays.

Dave Howard of the Save New Barnet Campaign said local people were not NIMBY's but wanted the land to be regenerated as a community hub.

His group did a consultation of its own and found that residents had a wish list including swimming pools, a public leisure centre, homes and shops.

“I'm concerned that the strategy is being deferred yet again,” he said.

“It has been on and off for four years and it has been imminent for at least three years. When we had a public meeting on April 3 last year the director of planning and environment services said the public consultation would be out within a few weeks.”

Barnet Council declined to comment. The Business Management Overview and Scrutiny Subcommittee starts at 6pm.