Cockfosters Local Area Residents Association

Welcome to CLARA

Welcome to CLARA – Cockfosters Local Area Residents Association

CLARA exists to promote the concerns of residents and preserve the character of Cockfosters. We are a voluntary, non-aligned and apolitical organisation. We welcome membership from those that live and work in Cockfosters. We work constructively with our local councils and elected politicians, acting as the voice for the Cockfosters community and our members.

We cover the residential and commercial centre of Cockfosters which is divided between the London Boroughs of Enfield and Barnet. We lie within Cockfosters Ward in Enfield and East Barnet Ward in Barnet. These wards are represented by the parliamentary constituencies of Enfield Southgate and Chipping Barnet respectively. CLARA maintains productive relations with local councillors and MPs in both boroughs.

Our area extends as far north as Coombehurst Close on the A111, as far south as Bramley Road, as far west as the southern end of Mount Pleasant and as far west as the junction of Westpole Avenue and Bramley Road. It also covers a substantial part of Trent Park though the interests of Park users are represented by the Friends of Trent Park FOTP).

CLARA is a member of the Federation of Enfield Residents and Allied Associations (FERAA). We work with neighbouring organisations such as the FOTP, Hadley Wood Association, East Barnet Residents Association and New Barnet Community Association/Save New Barnet to address shared areas of interest. We also maintain contact with the Cockfosters SNT and East Barnet SNT in the Metropolitan Police.

We maintain a (GDPR-compliant) online database of members and those who have attended our public meetings.

Current key issues include:

Increasing scale and frequency of music events in Trent Park
Over-development of Cockfosters with particular focus on the plan for the Station Car Park
Local infrastructure and maintenance
Crime and Policing

You can find out more about who we are, what we do and our current areas of focus by simply scrolling down or by using the links at the top of this page.

Thank you for visiting. Please come back regularly for our ongoing updates.

Colin Bull, Chairman

CLARA area map of coverage

About CLARA

Our Members

CLARA is currently made-up of 11 active volunteer members:

Colin Bull

Chairman

Colin is an Enfield resident who has lived in Cockfosters for almost 30 years. He joined CLARA in 2014 and was co-chair with Alan Perkin until 2018 when he took over as sole Chairman.

Michael Walker

Treasurer

Michael has been a Cockfosters resident for over 50 years and has been CLARA’S Treasurer for 8 years.

Alan Perkin

Member

An Enfield resident of Cockfosters for over 40 years, Alan was a co-founder of CLARA in 1993. He was Chair until very recently, when he handed over the reins to Colin.

Sarah Adams

Member

A resident of Cockfosters since birth, and committee member since 2013. Sarah was Secretary of CLARA from 2014 until 2017 and continues to be a member of the team.

Tony Gold

Member

A Cockfosters resident for 35 years, Tony’s CLARA responsibilities include environmental issues such as litter, drainage, pavements, road conditions, traffic and the general appearance of the area.

Norman Summerfield

Member

A Cockfosters resident for over 40 years, Norman has seen huge changes in the area and lends his voice in support of CLARA as well as helping with advertising and printing.

Stephen Gray

Member

Stephen has lived in Cockfosters for 14 years on the Barnet side of the area. Stephen is the link to liaising with MPs and Councillors of LB Barnet on any issues that arise, as well as supporting on key committee areas of focus.

Suzanne Grason-Leach

Member

A Cockfosters resident for over 5 years within the Enfield borough, Suzanne has taken-up responsibility for crime and policing issues, membership database communications, AGM’s, and the launch of a new CLARA Website and Facebook page.

Stuart Nathan

Member

A Cockfosters resident for some 10 years, Stuart is a relatively new member of CLARA’s committee, offering support to the Station Car Park issue.

David Palfreman

Member

A Cockfosters resident for over 12 years within the Barnet borough, David’s is currently providing his skills to the ongoing Trent Park Event issues.

Ron Mobbs

Member

An East Barnet resident for over 20 years, Ron has recently joined the CLARA committee and is supporting across various key areas of focus.

History of CLARA

The idea of a Residents Association for families living in and around Chalk Lane in Cockfosters was realised in 1993. The founders were Donald Alexander (decd.), Trevor Lawman and Alan Perkin. It was triggered following serious concerns about the various developments and changes planned for parts of Cockfosters, for the most part unopposed and unpoliced by residents. The name was ‘North Cockfosters Residents Association’ but this quickly changed to ‘Chalk Lane Area Residents Association’ or ‘CLARA’ as we have been called for some time now.

The idea proved to be attractive to many local residents, and after considerable planning and discussion with other residents, the inaugural meeting of CLARA was held in the Southgate Compton Cricket Club in Chalk Lane on 28 June 1993. The first AGM followed on 1 September 1994.

The first Committee comprised: Chairman Phil Redman, Vice Chairman & Press Officer Trevor Lawman, Treasurer & Membership Secretary Donald Alexander, General Secretary Murray Lovat, Co-opted Member Keith Dixon.

The first CLARA Public Meeting was held on 23 March 1994 to discuss the application for planning permission to build 220 dwellings submitted by Charles Church Developments on West Farm Place. As a result of CLARA’s intervention, the number of residences finally approved was reduced to 106.

Recently we extended our coverage of the Cockfosters area owing to residents requirements and increasing areas of focus required. This resulted in a slight tweak in our name to Cockfosters Local Area Residents Association, but still maintaining our acronym of CLARA.

Join Us

We actively encourage membership to CLARA, the proceeds of which help us to continue operating and to extend our voice against the issues we currently face in our community.

Membership is quick, simple and costs very little!

The cost: £10 per annum (calendar year)/per household
Payment: simply bank transfer quoting your full name as a reference
Account No: 94725704 Sort Code: 09 01 55 Account Name: Chalk Lane Area Residents Association (the original name of CLARA when bank account opened)

Your £10 goes towards admin and other small running costs. None of our active members take any kind of financial benefit for the time and effort they put in, so your funding really does go in to simply keeping the association running. And, once you become a member, we’ll keep you updated on all the key issues and our work.

Trent Park Events

Over the last 5 years, commercial events in Trent Park have increased in both scale and frequency.

We are now seeing events of up to 25,000 people being held in Trent Park over one weekend, which unfortunately brings all kinds of anti-social behaviour to our community, as well as permanently impacting the park and its nature.

CLARA believes that certain large commercial events, are now having such a negative impact on the park and the community, often displacing normal park users during key summer months, that these need to be moved to a more suitable location.

Enfield Council is undertaking a review of its Events Strategy NOW. The remit for this review is insufficient to properly examine the case for very large events and their adverse impacts on the community. CLARA has requested the findings of this review and is still awaiting sight of this despite numerous requests.

Additionally, with the recent and ongoing impact of Covid-19, big events pose a huge risk with crowds of people, due to issues with social distancing affecting access into events, the events themselves, and public transport requirements post events.

NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT TO GET THESE EVENTS MOVED!

What you can do to help:

Please read our report

CLARA has prepared the attached report (PDF format) to bring into focus the impact of the two largest events held in 2019. We have previously reviewed these problems with both Council officers and the event organisers only to have received scant assurance that our issues can be effectively mitigated. We do not believe they can be!

We provide updates on our conversations with LBE Council.

SAVE COCKFOSTERS

Station Car Park Development by TFL/Grainger

UPDATE: February 2022

For those who watched the planning application – unfortunately this has now been voted through. However, Save Cockfosters continues to oppose and object to this scheme, and CLARA will update further in due course.

UPDATE: October 2020

Please see a slideshow of our key objections as we continue to support the campaign. More news as it comes through:

Objections

UPDATE: 18 JULY 2020

Save Cockfosters is conducting an active social media campaign. An online protest was held on 29th June. View a recording of this through the following link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=277327940015599&ref=watch_permalink

We plan (imminently) leaflet drops across Cockfosters, Hadley Wood, Oakwood, parts of East Barnet/New Barnet and cars using the station as a commuting link. We need volunteers to help with this so that we can manage our funds to best effect. Thank you to those who have volunteered so far, but we need more! Can you help? Please reply to this email at clara.cockfosters@gmail.com with your name and the area/road where you could help. Many hands make light work!

Cockfosters remains under serious threat from the proposed TFL/Grainger station car park housing development. The Full magnitude of the threat includes c350 build-to-let flats in buildings up to 14 storeys high.

Following a recent meeting with the developers and their nominated consultant Concillio we expect them to submit a planning application to Enfield Council as early as July 2020,

The collateral damage will be significant. This is high rise, high density, inner city building brought to our suburban doorsteps.

What you can do to help:

SIGN UP to the campaign at http://savecockfosters.co.uk
SIGN the petition at http://chng.it/TFRk6Wcy9r
DONATE to our fighting fund. Even just £5 will help us to fight the planning application. Bank details: Sort Code: 09 01 55 Account Number 94725704 Account Name: Chalk Lane Area Residents Association (please note this is our original association name still required for banking). Please add your surname and ‘SCP’ as a reference when donating e.g. SmithSCP

CLARA will keep residents updated with the progress of the campaign ongoing and actions required by residents to move it forward.

KEY ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE DEVELOPMENT:

Park & ride is a key asset to commuters and locals and must be retained.
The loss of all long-term parking at Cockfosters Station will diminish our quality of life and make access to the trains difficult for families with children, disabled people, shift workers, and vulnerable people.
Commuter cars will spread into roads in Enfield/Barnet/Trent Park.
Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) in many local streets are inevitable, causing stress and difficulties for visitors, home-help and social services with the prospect of fines for parking outside your own home.
Additional burdens on local schools and GPs when increased capacity is not even at the planning stage.
Destruction of the local Conservation Area by 4 towers rising to 14 storeys, swamping the general village aspect of Cockfosters.
Overbearing visual Impact on the adjacent heritage Park and Greenbelt.
Increased pollution and further traffic congestion on the Cockfosters Road.
Substantial threat of anti-social behaviour from over dense tower dwellings.

We understand the need for building more affordable homes. However, we are implacably against this excessive, inconsiderate and greedy development that will trample over our precious neighbourhood. It is environmental vandalism that has no regard for the harm it will inflict on our community. At virtually twice the height of other buildings in the area, it will completely dominate the landscape and overwhelm everything around it.

BLACK HORSE TOWER DEVELOPMENT

UPDATED March 2022

The site now owned by Chase New Homes has planning permission for 223 private apartments as part of a gated residence, and work has started on the development from what we have seen and heard.

UPDATED 18 JULY 2020:

The site owned by Hermes received planning approval in February 2017. CLARA opposed this application, mainly because of the inadequate amount of resident and visitor parking. The approved scheme involved increasing the height of Blackhorse Tower from 9 to 10 storeys and demolishing the smaller Holbrook and Churchwood Houses and replacing them with a development comprising flats for sale, social rented housing, a business hotel, some retail and possibly an NHS GP practice. Development work subsequently stalled, supposedly due to negotiation of a so-called Section 106 agreement whereby the developer would be obligated to make certain contributions to Enfield Council.

Ownership of the Blackhorse Tower site has now passed from Hermes to Chase New Homes who have submitted a new application (20/02032/PRJ) to Enfield Council on 1st July 2020. The application is substantially different to that approved in 2017.

The plans involve retaining the existing three buildings and converting them to 200 one and two bedroom flats, exclusively for sale. Car parking would be retained for 154 spaces and, of course, in the absence of the hotel, retail or NHS surgery there would be a reduced requirement for visitor parking on site. This application seeks to make use of so-called Permitted Development Rights (PDRs) to convert the office premises to residential accommodation. There are limited grounds for both the Council and interested parties to oppose these plans or to impose varied conditions on the developer.

Infra Structure

CLARA committee members continue to monitor the condition of our local infrastructure and have ongoing liaison with Cockfosters Councillors and Enfield council officers, in order to report areas and facilities that require repair and improvement within our community.

We deal with council officers on matters relating to such topics as;

poor drainage
damage to the high roads and side streets
overgrown or displaced trees and branches
general cleanliness and appearance

We enjoy a good relationship with our local Councillors, who have the ability to coordinate with the boroughs of Enfield and Barnet and where necessary make effective change.

We take frequent walks with council officers and Councillors and make them aware of our concerns around Cockfosters, trying to improve the local community. Pointing out excessive foliage where it extends onto pavements, large quantities of litter, big potholes in the road and uneven paving stones amongst other local issues.

Over the years we’ve successfully had eyesores removed, such as vandalised bins, graffiti on walls, broken bus shelters, and fly tipping of large unwanted items.

We also are in discussion with the council to try to ease heavy traffic flow along Cockfosters Road.

Please contact us if you have any major problems relating to the above areas.

Crime Policing&ANPR

Latest news 11.9.22 – We are still open for funding

https://gofund.me/4f70c3b6

CLICK HERE FOR FAQS

CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO OF PUBLIC ZOOM MEETING

PROTECT COCKFOSTERS FROM CRIME. SUPPORT COMMUNITY ANPR.

Crime has been lower during the lockdown period, but as the country comes out of these restrictions, so too do the criminals, and crime related activity is rising again, as you will see from the Met Police Newsletters.

ANPR cameras (Automatic Number Plate Recognition)/CCTV cameras are proving to be helping Police detection rates as well as deterring criminals from coming into the area. We know this technology has helped Hadley Wood, with criminals recently being caught and successfully prosecuted supported by ANPR/CCTV. The more we can deter, detect, and arrest, the more excellent the opportunity to bring down the crime rate in the area.

Our local Police Safer Neighbourhood Team for Cockfosters Ward has been working with Hadley Wood security, CLARA and other stakeholders on plans to increase crime prevention in Cockfosters. These plans draw on experience from Hadley Wood and are initially focused on that part of Cockfosters lying within the London Borough of Enfield.

CLICK HERE FOR FAQs

Goal

To raise as much funding as possible to fit as many camera sites as possible.

ANPR/CCTV cameras are not cheap, and there is no funding available from either the Police or Council.

We are therefore supporting the Safer Neighbourhood Team in raising funds across residential houses and businesses in Cockfosters, to set-up a community ANPR/CCTV camera scheme. The cameras will initially start with the outer border of Cockfosters as far as Cat Hill down to Hadley Wood.

CLICK HERE FOR AN AREA MAP AND FOR FAQ’s This can also be found as an attachment under crime prevention at the bottom of the page, which provides a visual map of the areas the scheme hopes to cover and frequently asked questions.

Further cameras can be implemented as sufficient funds are reached for every individual camera site thereafter. Further phases (to cover an even larger area) will be reviewed at a later stage – widening the area and tightening protection.

Kicking off the campaign

We are really pleased to announce that Hadley Wood Security (a community group of residents) has kick-started the campaign by kindly donating the funds for two initial ANPR/CCTV sites within the Cockfosters area. The two areas continue to work closely together around policing and crime.

How you can help – donate to the fund TODAY

The average cost of a site is £3,000, and the initial phase is ten sites. However, the scheme should not be limited to just these ten sites, and hence why there is no capped amount on the funds being raised. Please give what you can afford, to help the scheme reach its goal as quickly as possible.

Donate today

There are two ways of donating:

Directly into the specific bank account held for ‘Cockfosters ANPR’. Simply email cockfosterscameras@gmail.com for further information and bank details.
Via the dedicated gofundme page: https://gofund.me/4f70c3b6 The money donated on this page will be transferred to the ‘Cockfosters ANPR’ bank account, after the gofundme fee is deducted (typically 2.9% plus 25p per transaction). This route was set-up as some people feel more comfortable donating through a recognised funding platform, but ultimately this route is subject to the normal platform fees and terms of business.

Why ANPR

Crime affects us all. Whilst Cockfosters is still considered a safe area, we all want it to be safer. The Police cannot be everywhere, so we need to help them to help us!

As we have seen during the pandemic, we have a great Community in Cockfosters and here is how we can continue to help each other.

ANPR/CCTV cameras can help to provide the evidence needed by the Police to deter and detect criminals by identifying cars that enter or exit the area when needed. But we need your help to do get this project underway.

How ANPR works

ANPR/CCTV cameras have a high-quality resolution for greater clarity and can detect registration numbers with high visibility during daylight and the dark hours of the evening and night-time. In addition, these ANPR/CCTV cameras can attain high-definition clarity of cars involved in crimes or acting suspiciously. All this helps provide for a greater detection rate.

Who’s running and supporting the scheme?

Running the scheme: The Police and your local NeighbourHood Watch team are behind the call for ANPR/CCTV cameras for Cockfosters, having already seen the positive impact of them in the Hadley Wood area. Unfortunately, the Police/Council don’t have the funding to install them, so they need to engage the community for direct support.

Any ANPR/CCTV installed cameras will be managed and accessed by the Neighbourhood Police team and their coordinators.

Supporting the campaign: This campaign has the backing of the Met Police, Neighbourhood Watch (NHW), Cockfosters Local Area Residents Association (CLARA), Hadley Wood Security (HWS) and your local Councillors; Cllr Alex Georgiou, Cllr Elaine Hayward, Cllr Edward Smith.

Treasury of Community Funds: Hadley Wood Security will act as the fundholder and will release funds for camera purchase and installation as the Police and NHW team advise. Hadley Wood Security has set-up a dedicated bank account for this specific fund. All funds that come into this account will be solely used for the ANPR/CCTV camera sites. Hadley Wood Security and your Local Policing Team will provide full transparency of the funds on an ongoing basis and ensure full recording of monies spent.

Where else is this type of scheme working?

ANPR/CCTV cameras are being used in a scheme of this nature in Hillingdon. Hadley Wood adopted the scheme three years ago, identifying suspects and vehicles committing offences, which has led to a significant reduction in crime and a better detection rate on burglary. The subsequent logical scheme development is Cockfosters to connect Cockfosters and Hadley Wood.

Where will the cameras go?

The cameras will be strategically placed on roads that are vital entry and exit routes into Cockfosters. The aim is to create a “ring of steel” around the Cockfosters boundary, so that when a vehicle comes into the area, it has virtually no way of passing in or out without going past an ANPR/CCTV camera and being detected. Once the essential cameras are in place, then more cameras will be applied across other roads. You don’t have to have a camera on every road; it’s about placing them at strategic points, which will then allow all residents a greater level of protection through detection. Once criminals know this system is in place, it should deter them from coming here in the first place (the primary goal). Please note that ANPR/CCTV cameras will be located anonymously and inconspicuously to avoid detection/damage. Therefore, the Police will not be able to provide any mapping or location evidence of these.

How to keep up with the latest developments

You can keep up with the latest developments by returning to the CLARA website http://claracockfosters.org.uk/

CLARA will be posting updates as appropriate.

What if I have more questions?

CLICK HERE FOR FAQs or email the Police directly at cockfosterscameras@gmail.com

Making Cockfosters as safe as it can be

Cockfosters is increasingly being impacted by organised crime coming into the area vs general opportunists. This results in burglaries, car crime/theft, drug dealing and other crimes such as anti-social behaviour, speeding and so forth. Most of this crime comes into the area in road vehicles.

Whether you are a resident or a business, crime affects you. Together we can help the Police to help us, by being vigilant and good neighbours, but the Police can’t be everywhere all of the time, and to deter and detect the Police need factual evidence such as pictures and videos from CCTV. Too often, our memories or our eyes mislead us, and we capture information incorrectly or insufficiently, which means however hard the Police try (and they try hard) they are unable to find the criminals or hold them to account.

HELP US TO HELP THE POLICE AND OUR COMMUNITY BY DONATING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. EVERY POUND COUNTS. THANK YOU

GENERAL CRIME

Cockfosters crime rate continues to track low-mid table compared to other areas within the Enfield borough, however there were over 1,100 reported crimes in our area in 2019, which makes it increasingly important that we collectively help towards keeping our neighbourhood as safe as we possibly can.

CLARA is therefore active in supporting the community to combat crime and anti-social behaviour in Cockfosters and works closely with our Local Police Team on two current areas of focus:

Supporting the Local Police Team in setting up Neighbourhood Watch in the Cockfosters Area.
Supporting residents with anti-social behaviour issues around late-night social clubs/venues.

NeighbourHood Watch Scheme (NHW)

Barnet Borough Cockfosters Residents have OWL (Online Watch Link). OWL sends you the latest crime alerts via a shared platform. To see if your street is set-up go to owl.co.uk and click ‘Join a Watch’.
Enfield Borough Cockfosters Residents have a specific NHW scheme for the Hadley Wood & Cockfosters areas. We are also pleased to have OWL (Online Watch Link) now in Enfield Borough. OWL is complementary, not an alternative, to the existing Neighbourhood Watch scheme. The unique and well-run NHW WhatsApp Groups in Cockfosters and Hadley Wood will not be affected and will continue to operate as normal.

NHW in Cockfosters

CLARA has successfully supported the Local Police Team set-up NHW across a number of roads within Cockfosters. These roads have a designated ‘Street Coordinator’ and a good number of residents signed-up. However, for optimal results all residents in the road need to be signed-up.

TO Join: If you are not already a member of the NHW scheme, then we urge you to sign-up. Simply email CLARA at clara.cockfosters@gmail.com advising us of the road you live in and we will put you in touch with your Street Coordinator. If you don’t have a Street Coordinator, we’ll work with you to set-up NHW in your road.

It doesn’t cost anything to be a member of NHW and with advances in technology and mobile phones, it’s very quick and easy for each resident to play an active role in keeping their street safe.

OWL in Cockfosters

To sign up to OWL go to: www.owl.co.uk/met This will take you to the sign up page. Then choose the Neighbourhood Watch option to get the most from your experience on the website.

Current Area Crime Stats

Please see attached PDF’s of the latest 2021 crime stats for the Cockfosters local area.

Local Police Team

The Local Police Team operate drop-in clinics and street talks to be advised.