Four public meetings, 12 to 15 October. Cabinet on Wednesday decides the school closure consultation, £15.9m of school building work and a growth plan to 2040.
Enfield Council holds four public meetings this week, all at the Civic Centre on Silver Street. The one that matters most is Cabinet on Wednesday 14 October, which decides whether to consult on closing three schools and approves a four-year schools building programme. (Enfield Council, meetings calendar)
Every meeting starts at 7pm and is open to the public. Agendas and reports are on the council’s committee site, linked below. Items marked Part 2 are taken in private.
Monday 12 October: Healthy and Safe Communities Scrutiny Panel
Councillors on the scrutiny panel receive five reports. (Agenda)
- Community cohesion, from the council’s Prevent programme manager and its head of community safety, with the draft Community Safety Plan 2026-30
- Safeguarding Adults Board annual report for 2025/26
- Adult social care self-assessment for 2026/27
- Annual Public Health Report, this year on children and young people’s health
- Measles: lessons learned from the winter outbreak, from a public health registrar
Tuesday 13 October: Planning Committee
One application is listed. Officers recommend approval for a seven-bedroom house on land behind 3 to 7 Seaforth Gardens and 35 Broad Walk, Winchmore Hill, reference 25/03706/FUL, despite 62 objections. We reported the officers’ case in full on Friday. (Agenda)
The committee also confirms its dates to April 2027. The next meetings are Thursday 22 October (provisional) and Tuesday 3 November (provisional).
Wednesday 14 October: Cabinet
This is the heaviest agenda of the month. The public items are: (Agenda)
- School closure consultation (KD 6131). Cabinet decides whether to consult from November on closing Bishop Stopford’s School, Starks Field Primary and Suffolks Primary. Our report on the proposal and its timetable sets out what the papers say.
- Schools capital programme 2026/27 to 2029/30 (KD 6101). Approval to spend £15.9m this year and commit £36.2m for 2027/28 to 2029/30, with contingency budgets of £0.55m and £0.60m. The project list is in a restricted appendix. The report says the programme is funded by Department for Education grant, ring-fenced capital receipts and other grants, “with no call made on the Council’s resources”. (Report)
- Quarter 1 performance report. Of 62 indicators rated against targets for April to June, 42 were green, 13 amber and 7 red. Another 45 are tracked without targets. Cabinet is asked to approve a refreshed scorecard aligned to the new Council Plan 2026-30. (Report)
- Community Safety Plan 2026-30 (KD 6093).
- Strategic Asset Management Plan 2027-2032 (KD 5816). A framework for 2,592 council assets valued at about £1.755 billion. It carries an “indicative ambition” to cut operational floorspace from about 446,500 sq m to 279,500 sq m by 2032. Individual sales and projects still need their own approvals. (Report)
- Economic Growth Plan to 2040 (KD 6125). The vision is for Enfield to be “London’s leading industrial and entrepreneurial borough” by 2040, with four priority sectors: future-facing manufacturing, construction and net zero, logistics and wholesale, and creative industries. (Report)
- Voluntary and Community Sector Premises Policy (KD 6136). A single policy for council buildings used by charities and community groups, introducing a “Community Benefit Rent Reduction” so that any rent subsidy is tied to measurable benefit. (Report)
- Montagu 406 joint venture dissolution (KD 6006). Cabinet is asked to end the 2018 partnership with Henry Boot Developments for the Montagu Industrial Estate in Lower Edmonton. Phase 1 was built and sold in December 2024. The remaining estate has 37 leasehold properties, two units vacant, and the report says later phases “are now considered unviable”. The council would take back control and market the site, with any sale terms coming back to members. (Report)
- Energetik 2026/27 operating plan (KD 6080). The council-owned heat network expects to use its full £6m working capital facility. Our report on the plan has the figures.
- Housing Gateway Ltd asset review (KD 6112). The council’s housing company wants to sell Greenway House in Harlow, a converted office block it bought in 2018 for temporary accommodation. Fire safety failings found after purchase forced the decant of the upper floors; 32 households remain on the ground floor. Four offers were received. The council would lease the building back for ten years once the buyer has refurbished it. (Report)
- Small and Medium Sites Delivery Strategy (KD 6118). Measures to get more homes from small plots towards the borough’s revised target of 21,062 homes over ten years, including a council-led programme of its own small sites and support for smaller builders. (Report)
Part 2 appendices for the schools programme, Montagu, Energetik and Housing Gateway are taken with the press and public excluded. The next Cabinet is on 4 November.
Thursday 15 October: Conservation and Heritage Advisory Board
The board, set up this year, receives an update on conservation and heritage across the borough from the urban design and heritage manager, and agrees its work programme for 2026/27. (Agenda)
Coming up
- Tuesday 20 October: Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel, Palmers Green Ward Forum and Grange Park Ward Forum (7.30pm)
- Wednesday 21 October: a provisional call-in meeting of Overview and Scrutiny, used only if a Cabinet decision is challenged
- Thursday 22 October: provisional Planning Committee, 7.30pm
- Wednesday 28 October: Licensing Sub-Committee, 1pm
How to attend or object
All meetings are at the Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield EN1 3XA. Public seats do not need booking. To comment on the Seaforth Gardens application, contact the planning case officer through the planning register before Tuesday; our planning news page explains how. For Cabinet items, write to democracy@enfield.gov.uk.
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