The planning application to upgrade Underhill to meet Football League criteria by the end of this season was deferred by members of the Chipping Barnet area Planning and Environment Committee at their meeting at the town hall, Hendon, on Monday.
After an hour of listening to the report of the planning officers - which recommended refusal of the plans, - objectors, Barnet FC Supporters' Association and Barnet FC chairman Tony Kleanthous, the committee chairman (Councillor Eva Greenspan) recommended the deferral.
Councillor Greenspan said that she and colleagues had visited Underhill that morning and she was aware of problems relating to parts of the application.
The committee agreed her recommendation to put the matter back to seek a solution. The councillor asked for "material" changes to be made to the plan in a fresh application.
The reaction of chairman Tony Kleanthous was: "I am devastated by this no-decision. Obviously the club needs a few days to consider the next step and consult with the Football League, who may demand a ground share.
"We need to be realistic, to stop and think about the best way forward because the deferment effectively puts us back to the very beginning again with more expense... getting this far has already cost us around £30,000 and put us on a tightrope as far as meeting the deadline is concerned with a new application taking at least two to three months.
"The suggestion for this application came from councillors, who maintained that we could achieve the criteria inside the Underhill footprint.
"We have talked to the planners and to councillors since February and it was only at the last minute that we became aware of any problems. We had already reduced the North Stand size to only eight rows of seating on their advice but this was still not acceptable. It was made clear at the meeting that property ownership is not a planning matter so even if we had succeeded in buying all the houses then planning would still have been refused for a new North Stand. Incredibly, they even had issues over changing rooms for our football and cricket in the community activities even though this building IS acceptable development in the Green Belt.
"Our application was for the minimum requirement to meet the League criteria. If this cannot be achieved in the timescale, and pretty obviously it can't, we must think of relocation and intensify our announced aim of moving to a new stadium.
"At every stage over the years we have been asked to compromise ... in 13 years all the council have given us is a car park to allow fire engines to get into the ground but even that was after they got a court injunction to try and stop the work.
"What they are now saying is that we spend £7 million to effectively only have a three sided ground, with no cover or disabled facilities for away supporters. Our stadium is well below the required standard at present and it's this appalling attitude towards the safety, comfort and welfare of Barnet residents and football supporters that astounds us the most.
"We need to come up with a short term solution using temporary roofed stands while we refocus on our long term relocation. I am saddened that it has come to this and cannot believe that any real supporter of Barnet FC would content themselves with such a ridiculous suggestion as having a three sided stadium.
"For Barnet FC to progress and build upon its present good League position we need to look for and demand better than the minimum acceptable standard.
Keith Doe, chairman of the independent BFCSA, representing 1,000 Bees fans, said after the meeting:" In my opinion we now know where we stand and that isn't Underhill".
DENNIS SIGNY
