A multi-storey car park planned for North Middlesex University Hospital has won approval in a scheme designed to free up land for housing development.

The four-storey building, containing 452 parking spaces, will be built on the site of an existing surface-level car park at the northern boundary with the A406 North Circular Road.

It will offset the loss of parking spaces in the south and east of the site, where the Greater London Authority plans to build 220 homes after buying up a parcel of land three years ago.

In a report presented to Enfield Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, officers wrote that the new car park caused “less than substantial” harm to nearby Pymmes Park and the setting of the Grade 2-listed former garden wall within it would be outweighed by investment in the hospital and new affordable homes.

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During the meeting, Daniel Anderson, an independent councillor and member of opposition group Community First, raised concerns over what he claimed were contradictions between the report and information presented in a previous report on an active travel scheme planned for North Mid.

The £1.25million scheme, designed to encourage more people to ditch their cars in favour of walking and cycling, was approved in February. It involves installing a bus gate, two modal filters and a segregated cycle lane on roads surrounding the hospital.

Cllr Anderson highlighted a previous report on the active travel scheme which stated that 60% of staff live locally, compared with a 46% figure quoted in the planning committee’s report for staff living within “easy walking and cycling distance (less than 5km)”. He then asked which of the statements was accurate.

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David Taylor, the council’s head of traffic and transportation, said in response that he would take Cllr Anderson’s points away and consider them, but he added that officers were “comfortable” with the car park proposals, which would enable further development to take place.

Under questioning from councillors, David said the number of parking bays for Blue Badge holders would increase from 45 to 48 across the whole site as a result of the development, and that further spaces could be provided.

Following the debate, the application for the car park was unanimously approved by the committee.