3:18pm Tuesday 26th June 2001
When it sold off playing fields for housing, Barnet College promised an all-weather sports pitch for the people of Grahame Park. Six years on, ANNA FAZACKERLEY and MATTHEW NIXSON ask why no-one is making sure it keeps its end of the bargain:
Overgrown and derelict, the land next to Barnet College's Colindale campus is hardly picturesque. But when youth football manager Vince Purdue walks past, he sees broken promises and disappointment behind the weeds and brambles.
By rights he should see an all-weather sports pitch and pavilion. That is what Hendon College promised to build in return for selling off playing fields for housing in 1995. Six years down the line and the promised facilities have never been provided.
The Section 106 (S106) document a legally-binding agreement between Barnet Council and the college promising the pitch has already had two extensions and expires on Saturday30/6. In such cases the council might be expected to come down hard on an organisation flouting the rules. In fact Barnet Council intends to do absolutely nothing.
Last year Hendon College merged with Barnet College and was renamed Barnet College. In February, it submitted a new application for the land. It requested permission to build six more houses and 42 flats, throwing in a basketball or football court, skateboard area and trailplay area.
A spokesman for Barnet College dismissed claims it had reneged on its 1995 agreement as "irrelevant". He said the new application was in response to an ongoing consultation with the community and new facilities were designed to appeal to a wider group of people. The spokesman admitted the college would profit from selling the land but said receipts would be ploughed back into college projects which would benefit the community.
Mr Purdue, manager of the Grahame Park estate's Mill Hill Rangers youth football team, does not agree. He is understandably upset that the site has been left derelict for so long despite the legally-binding S106 agreement.
"The kids are being fobbed off. The new park the college is proposing is embarrassingly small. Grahame Park is a big estate and needs a new sports ground," he said.
But Kevin Wilson, Barnet Council's head of public affairs, said in a statement: "Our consultation with local people tells us they don't want the all-weather pitch but do want a good range of facilities. The application is expected to go to committee on July 18 and will be considered in the usual way.
"In these circumstances it would be nonsense to take action against a new college over an old S106 agreement. We want community facilities on that site and we are now close to achieving it."
In January Barnet Council gave the go-ahead to a new £3.5million sports centre in Burnt Oak, just down the road from Grahame Park. Some £2.5million of this money will come from the taxpayer after Sport England rejected a bid for £2million Lottery funding. Council officers are currently waiting to learn if a less ambitious application for £1million Lottery funding will get the green light.
Tory councillor Brian Salinger has described the new scheme in council leader Alan Williams' ward as a "vanity project". "Why are we paying £2million for a project that should be being funded elsewhere by Barnet College? It's ridiculous," he said.
Sport England which distributes Lottery money towards sporting projects has objected strongly to Barnet College's new plans for its Grahame Park site. It believes the original S106 agreement should be enforced. Sport England insiders have suggested Barnet Council is unlikely to succeed in its bid for Lottery money for a sports centre when it is apparently turning its nose up at a similar project it could have for free.
The council has very close links with the college. Council leader Alan Williams and former director of education Martyn Kempson are both on the board of Barnet College.
In June 1999 Hendon College's then director of finance Andrew Whitaker wrote to Barnet Council asking for an extension to the S106 agreement and pleading poverty.
The college was seeking financial backing, and discussing the possibility of a merger, he wrote.
"Whatever the outcome of our negotiations, we are dedicated to meeting our obligations. We have already called for tenders for the all-weather pitch and plan to commence construction in the next financial year," he promised
This has not been the case.
Two months after Mr Whitaker's letter, in August 1999, the council's planning and regeneration department prepared a report for then chief executive Max Caller.
Seen by the Times Group, the confidential and breathtakingly cynical briefing document suggests officers were sceptical about the project ever being completed. Despite having "doubts over all-weather pitch being delivered even with an extension", the council agreed to extend the college's S106 to give it more time.
Officers recommended Barnet adopt a hard line in negotiations with a view to forcing a discounted sale of the land to the council which could then profit by developing the land for affordable housing. Failing that, a "relaxed planning view" could see the college allowed to sell off more of the land for housing, generating funds for a smaller community scheme.
Officers estimated the facilities agreed in 1995 would cost up to £800,000 to construct. A new community leisure scheme would be cheaper. But the document warned such a "variation of the package downwards" might be met with objections from the community.
To counter this, the planning report said the council should construct "a detailed and defensible case", highlighting "true community needs rather than perception of officers at the time of the original negotiation". This is what appears to have happened.
Kevin Wilson is unrepentant over the council's lack of action against the college's unfulfilled S106 agreement, dismissing suggestions the council's attitude to Barnet College undermines S106 agreements.
"Barnet Council has in the past secured many community benefits through S106 agreements and will continue to take every opportunity to improve the quality of life of local people."
This does not include forcing Barnet College to provide an all-weather sports pitch for use of Vince Purdue's football teams.
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