For 15 years, Enfield Council has made big promises on housing, regeneration, jobs and parks. But too often the results have gone the other way.

Homes have not been built at the scale promised. Social rent homes have been lost. Homelessness is among the worst in the country. Local job opportunities have been lost, while unemployment remains too high. Meridian Water has become a warning, not a success story. Parks have been neglected. Planning decisions are less transparent than in most London boroughs. And scrutiny has been weakened when it should have been strengthened.

Enfield Labour will say every council has faced difficult circumstances. That is true.

Austerity, Covid, inflation, construction costs and the housing crisis have affected every London borough. But they do not explain why Enfield has performed so badly compared with other boroughs facing the same pressures.

They do not explain why Enfield has built far fewer homes than neighbouring boroughs, ended up with fewer social rent homes than it had in 2010, fallen to just one Green Flag park, and kept planning decisions less transparent than almost anywhere else in London.

This is not just bad luck. It is poor leadership.

Here are 20 reasons why Enfield needs change.

1. Enfield has fallen badly behind on housebuilding

Enfield has one of the worst track records in London for meeting housing targets. Other London boroughs have delivered far more homes. Barnet built around 26,000 homes over 15 years. Enfield built around 8,000.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Labour’s poor housing record

2. Enfield has failed to deliver affordable housing

Enfield has also fallen behind neighbouring boroughs on affordable housing. Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest each built roughly 4,000 to 5,000 affordable homes over the same period. Enfield built around 1,500.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Labour’s poor housing record

3. Homelessness in Enfield remains far too high

Since 2018, Enfield has repeatedly recorded some of the highest homelessness rates in the country. More than 3,000 Enfield households, including over 4,500 children, are still living in temporary accommodation. The negative impacts of living in temporary accommodation for long periods of time on health, well-being and education are well known and are very serious.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Temporary Accommodation: A False Economy

4. Enfield has fewer social rent homes than in 2010

Families in temporary accommodation need social rent council housing. But since 2010, Enfield has gone backwards. The council has allowed more social rent homes to be demolished than built, leaving the borough with around 300 fewer social rent homes than it had in 2010. That is one of the worst records in London.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Labour’s poor housing record; Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Council has been amongst the worst in London for building new Social Rent homes

5. Council homes have been left to decline

The council has not kept on top of its own housing maintenance. Hundreds of council homes in Edmonton have had to be evacuated on safety grounds and now stand empty. At a time of housing crisis, that is indefensible.

Read more: Enfield Council has been amongst the worst in London for building new Social Rent homes. – Better Homes Enfield; Uncertainty about the future of the Shires estate – Better Homes Enfield

6. Edmonton’s overcrowding crisis has not been addressed

Around one in six households in Edmonton are overcrowded, one of the highest rates of overcrowding in London. Yet at Meridian Water, on public land controlled by the council, Enfield failed to prioritise the family-sized homes Edmonton needs.

Read more: Meridian Water: A cautionary tale of unrealistic expectations – Better Homes Enfield; Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Council has been amongst the worst in London for building new Social Rent homes

7. Empty homes are rising

Enfield has thousands of vacant homes. Long-term empty homes are now at a 20-year high. The council said it would act, but the numbers have continued to rise.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: There’s a housing crisis, but the number of empty homes in Enfield is the highest in nearly 20 years

8. The council cannot blame lack of land

The council’s own planning evidence now identifies hundreds of viable brownfield sites across Enfield, with potential for tens of thousands of homes. The issue is not that Enfield has no options. The issue is that the council has failed to use them properly.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Labour’s poor housing record; No Evidence. No New Town. – Better Homes Enfield

9. Meridian Water has failed to deliver its promises

Meridian Water was meant to transform Edmonton with thousands of homes and jobs. It has been in Enfield’s planning strategy since at least 2010. More than fifteen years later, delivery is nowhere near the promises made.

It has failed on homes. It has failed on jobs. And it has failed to plan enough green space for a community in Edmonton that already faces serious health inequalities.

It is no longer credible to present it as a success story.

Read more: Meridian Water is not working – Better Homes Enfield; Better Homes Enfield: Erbil’s housing promises fall apart under scrutiny; Meridian Water will deliver a lower proportion of open green space than Hong Kong. – Better Homes Enfield

10. Meridian Water has been hit by avoidable errors

The problems at Meridian Water are not just inflation or market conditions. There have been avoidable mistakes, delays and poor decisions, including missing housing sites, infrastructure problems, penalties and costly errors.

Meridian Water has also raised serious safety and design concerns, including the approval of tall blocks with single staircases despite warnings from the London Fire Brigade.

Read more: London Fire Brigade raises concerns about Meridian Water tower blocks – Better Homes Enfield; Better Homes Enfield: Erbil’s housing promises fall apart under scrutiny; Enfield Dispatch: Avoidable mistake on Meridian Water bridge design set to cost Enfield Council up to £11m

11. Labour is making housing promises it cannot deliver

Recent claims about “first dibs” on council homes, HMOs and future council housing numbers sound good on leaflets. But several of these promises are not realistic, not properly evidenced, or not within the council’s power to deliver in the way suggested.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Erbil’s housing promises fall apart under scrutiny; Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Labour’s manifesto makes promises about HMOs it cannot realistically keep

12. The Local Plan has taken far too long

Enfield’s Local Plan has taken years to crawl through the system. Other boroughs have managed the process much more quickly. Despite the time and huge amount of money spent, important policies were still missing or weak.

Residents were also expected to respond to thousands of pages of late-published evidence in an unreasonably short time.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Risks of Removing HMO Policies in Enfield’s New Local Plan; Better Homes Enfield: Enfield’s New Local Plan: A Missed Opportunity to Control Adult Gaming Centres; Local Plan consultation: Enfield council gives public less than 2 weeks to review 7,000+ pages of withheld evidence – Better Homes Enfield

13. Enfield failed to bring forward a proper HMO policy

At a time when residents are deeply concerned about Houses in Multiple Occupation, or HMOs, Enfield’s emerging Local Plan still failed to include a strong, clear policy to control their spread.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Labour’s manifesto makes promises about HMOs it cannot realistically keep; Better Homes Enfield: Risks of Removing HMO Policies in Enfield’s New Local Plan

14. Planning Committee standards have fallen

There have been serious concerns about Enfield’s Planning Committee, including Labour members approving a fellow councillor’s application against officers’ advice, with that decision later overturned.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield’s Planning Committee: Performance, Accountability and Public Trust

15. The Chair of Planning ran an unauthorised HMO

The Chair of Enfield’s Planning Committee was found to be operating an HMO without the necessary planning permission. That raises obvious questions about judgement, standards, credibility and leadership.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield’s Planning Committee: Performance, Accountability and Public Trust

16. Enfield does not livestream Planning Committee meetings

Almost every London borough now livestreams or webcasts important meetings, including planning and development committee meetings. Enfield does not do this. That makes it harder for residents to see how decisions are made and reduces transparency and accountability.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield’s Planning Committee: Performance, Accountability and Public Trust

17. Enfield hides public planning comments from view

Most London councils publish planning objections and comments online. Enfield does not. Residents cannot easily check whether objections have been properly reported, understood or addressed. Nor can they read the comments of fellow residents or other consultees such as Transport for London or the Environment Agency.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Planning in Enfield: Call for transparency

18. Enfield has lost too many local job opportunities

The council has allowed employment land and workspace to be lost without ensuring proper replacement. People need homes, but they also need places to work. Enfield has not protected that balance. Enfield now has one of the highest unemployment claimant rates in London, as well as one of the lowest rates of job growth.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield cannot afford to lose more jobs. So why do new town plans treat them as expendable?; Enfield Dispatch: One-in-five working-age residents in Enfield claim unemployment benefits; Boldness Without Respect: Crews Hill’s Businesses Deserve Better – Better Homes Enfield

19. Parks and green spaces have been neglected and put under threat

In 2016, Enfield had 10 Green Flag parks. Now it has just one. A London-wide parks assessment ranked Enfield bottom out of the 25 boroughs assessed. At the same time, the proposed new town and Local Plan have brought parks, golf courses, sports clubs, playing fields and recreational land across the borough into the frame.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield’s parks and green spaces are under threat; Better Homes Enfield: Is the new town boundary being kept secret until after polling day?; Enfield Dispatch: Government confirms Crews Hill as one of seven new towns

20. Scrutiny has been weakened when it was needed most

Scrutiny is a vital function in local councils. It is supposed to test decisions, expose risks and hold the leadership to account. Yet in Enfield, scrutiny has been reduced, downgraded or made less meaningful.

On Meridian Water, concerns were raised about family housing, green space, pylons, density, jobs and delivery. Too often, those concerns were brushed aside with promises that they would be dealt with later in a new Masterplan. But that Masterplan was not published for public consultation.

When councils make big promises and spend huge sums of public money, they need more accountability, not less.

Read more: Better Homes Enfield: Enfield Council is avoiding scrutiny of its new town bid; Where is the Meridian Water Masterplan? – Better Homes Enfield; This is not the time to be dodging scrutiny – Enfield Dispatch

This is not just bad luck

These are not isolated problems. They cannot be explained away by national pressures or difficult market conditions. Other London boroughs have faced many of the same challenges, but Enfield has too often ended up near the bottom.

That points to a deeper failure: poor leadership, weak delivery and too little accountability.

Labour has controlled Enfield Council for more than 15 years. It has had its chance. It has made the promises. It has spent the money. But the results are clear. Enfield has fallen behind too many other London boroughs on too many of the things that matter most.

Enfield needs homes. It needs jobs. It needs safe council housing. It needs protected parks. It needs transparent planning decisions. And it needs a council that listens, explains and takes responsibility.

That is why Enfield needs change. And that is why it is time for a new approach.