Barnet Council will advertise the sale of Fairway Playground to the Stoney Wood Quarter developer. Objections will be read before a final decision is made.

Barnet Council has started the process of selling Fairway Playground in Mill Hill to the developer of Stoney Wood Quarter. The playground would become part of the 463-home build to rent scheme on the old Northway School land next door.

The decision to begin was signed on 6 November and published on 11 November. It was taken by the council’s Executive Director of Growth, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Homes and Regeneration (decision record).

It is not yet a decision to sell. Because the playground is public open space, the council must first advertise its plan and read any objections. Only then will it decide whether the playground goes into the sale.

What the council has agreed

The delegated powers report approves three things:

  • notices in a local newspaper advertising the council’s intention to sell the playground as part of the wider Northway/Fairway site
  • notices advertising its intention to “appropriate” the playground for planning purposes, which means changing the legal purpose the land is held for
  • a later decision, after objections are considered, on whether the playground is included in the sale to Stoney Wood Property Developments Ltd

Each notice must run for two consecutive weeks. The report does not give dates, and no notice had appeared on the Public Notice Portal for The Fairway when we checked on 11 November.

Why it matters

The playground has been open space for more than half a century. The report says it was transferred from education use to “public walks and pleasure grounds” on 12 March 1969, and that it is still used by the local and wider community. A plan attached to the report shows the “Fairway Play Area” between Fairway Primary School and Children’s Centre and the Northway School site, in Edgwarebury ward.

Appropriation matters as well. Once land is held for planning purposes, section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 lets the council and its development partners override rights other people hold over it, such as rights of way or restrictive covenants, subject to compensation. The report says this would let the scheme “proceed without impediment”.

The council’s reasons

The report gives two reasons for adding the playground to the sale. It would give the scheme more space, and it would maximise the council’s land receipt.

It says the loss would be made up by new play space in the development:

  • 3,436 square metres of play space, including a dedicated Play Street
  • against a London Plan minimum of 2,447 square metres for a scheme of this size
  • a new playground, cafe, soft play and gym, “at no cost to the Council”

The report also says the council can still keep the playground out of the deal. Its 2023 agreement for lease with the developer lets it exclude the land if, having considered the objections, it decides inclusion would be inappropriate.

Where Stoney Wood Quarter stands

Barnet resolved to refuse the scheme on eight grounds in March, and the Mayor of London took the application over two weeks later. The council’s report now says the Greater London Authority resolved to grant planning permission on 9 October 2026, subject to a section 106 legal agreement being completed.

Barnet’s own planning register still lists application 25/2743/FUL as pending decision, with no decision date recorded.

According to the report:

  • the scheme is 463 build to rent homes, with 49.86% of habitable rooms affordable
  • construction is targeted to start in 2026/27
  • practical completion is programmed for the last quarter of 2029

The report describes Stoney Wood Property Developments Ltd as owned by Aviva Capital Partners. The deal is a sale and leaseback, and the report says the scheme is “intended to form part of a long-term institutional investment for the Council”.

What it means for you

If you use Fairway Playground, or live near it, this is the point at which your view counts. Watch the local paper’s public notices and Barnet’s Public Notice Portal for two notices naming Fairway Playground. Each will say how and by when to object.

The report says any representations will be considered before the Executive Director of Growth and the Cabinet Member for Homes and Regeneration decide. We will report the notice dates and the deadline when they are published.