Dear St Ann’s Hospital Supporters,

The outline planning application is open for comments in support or to object to the redevelopment. We urge you to object to the application. We need to stop the site being sold off to property developers to build houses no one in Haringey will be able to afford, what we need are improved health services!

To make it easier for you to object we have drafted a letter of objection that you can adapt or simply cut and paste into an email. The draft letter is below. You can submit your objection by clicking on this link:

You must submit your objection soon, the planning officer writing the report making recommendations to the Planning Sub-Committee has already started to write his report. We need to make our voices heard now!

If you would like to help us plan the campaign join us at our next meeting at 6.30pm on Monday 18th August at Chestnuts Community Centre on St Ann’s Road opposite the hospital.

Thank you for your support.

Haringey Needs St Ann’s Hospital

Objection to the outline planning application for the St Ann’s Hospital Site

Application Reference No.: HGY/2014/1691
Site Address: St Ann’s Hospital, St Ann’s Road, London, N15 3TH

I strongly oppose this plan for the following reasons:

1. Change of Use
On Principle I feel that the very nature of the proposal is inappropriate and I object to the proposed change of use. This is a major change of use from a hospital to housing. This land is currently public, NHS, land designated for use for health care for the people of Haringey. No case has been put forward by any public authority or approved by Haringey Council to change this designation. The site should remain a hospital.

2. Health Needs Assessment and Haringey Council’s Legal Duty
No Healthcare Needs Assessment has been carried out by the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust, Haringey Council or Haringey Clinical Commissioning Group. In addition I understand that Haringey Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group have a legal duty to show how the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment informs planning and commissioning, this has not been shown with the St Ann’s Hospital redevelopment. The potential loss of public, NHS, land must be resisted if our health needs are not met.

If the Planning Sub Committee were to approve the outline planning application in its present form, without good evidence of having assessed the healthcare needs of the area this would be a dereliction of the Council’s legal duty.

3. The planned redevelopment contravenes the London Plan and the Local Plan
The redevelopment contravenes policies in the London Plan, specifically:
Policy 3.2, Addressing Health Inequalities
Policy 3.16, Social Infrastructure
Policy 3.17, Health and Social Care Facilities

The redevelopment also contravenes the Local Plan approved at full council last year. Policy SP14 states that the council will:

• Work with NHS Haringey in its goal to reduce health inequalities in the areas with poorest health;
• Identify appropriate sites for new health infrastructure including those in Haringey’s growth areas based on a health service delivery plan agreed by the Council and its partners;
• Protect existing facilities and support the provision of new or improved health facilities through land use planning area plans, development management decisions, improved service management plans and through planning contributions (see SP17);
• Prioritise interventions and resources to those areas of the borough where health inequalities are greatest; and
• Support the integration of community facilities and services, i.e. health, education, cultural and leisure in multi-purpose buildings

There is no evidence that Haringey Council has followed these policies. The Tottenham Plan will result in 10000 new homes being built on the East of the borough increasing the demand for health services. The Planning Sub-Committee must reject the planning application until it is demonstrated that its policies have been followed and the needs of these new residents have been considered.

4. Planning for the future
In their planning statement BEHMHT say: ‘Parts of the healthcare site following the proposed development will still be only one or two storeys in height and as a result there is the potential to replace these with new buildings with three to four storeys in the future, alongside expanded building footprints.’

I ask the Planning Sub-Committee to consider the need for these new buildings now, not some time in the future.

5. Need to expand Health Services at St Ann’s Site:
There is evidence locally for, and I fully support, provision of much needed enhanced health services and facilities at the St Ann’s Site including, but not limited to, the following:

• An Urgent Care Centre.
• Additional GP Surgeries on the St Ann’s Site.
• An integrated Child Health Centre.
• Expanded acute mental health facilities with integrated primary care and ‘step down’ services

Haringey Needs St Ann’s Hospital (HaNSAH): HaNSAH is calling for a halt to the plans to sell off NHS land at St Ann’s Hospital to property developers and for improved and integrated healthcare facilities that will meet the needs of the people in Haringey now and for the foreseeable future.