Tomorrow Barnet and Harrow vote. Save Our Edgware sent the same six questions about the Edgware Town Centre redevelopment to every party with candidates standing in Barnet. Five answered. Two didn't. This is the eve-of-poll record.
The full ward-by-ward record, every party's word-for-word answers, and links to every leaflet are at saveouredgware.co.uk/vote-7-may.
Who stood up for Edgware
🟢🟢 Conservative Harrow
Strong track record. 6-storey suburban limit already in Harrow Local Plan.
Conservative Harrow has the strongest record of any party on the Edgware scheme. Harrow Council submitted a strong formal consultee objection. Bob Blackman MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fire Safety, raised Edgware in Parliament three times — September 2023, November 2025, and again on the Edgware Towers fire safety question. Bob Blackman MP and Cllr Marilyn Ashton both wrote to the Secretary of State.
The clearest contrast with Barnet: Harrow's Local Plan already includes a 6-storey suburban building limit. This is done policy — not a future promise.
🟢🟢 Conservative Barnet
Opposed the scheme at every stage — the same scheme that grew from the framework they put in place.
Conservative Barnet's earlier Local Plan included a "Very Tall Buildings" exceptional circumstances test protecting local character. Labour later removed this protection through MM46 in May 2024, opening the door to the 29-storey approval that followed.
At the Strategic Planning Committee on 23 July 2025, all three Conservative members voted against the scheme. Cllr Cornelius asked: "Is this what we want to be remembered for?" Cllr Mire raised the question of who bears legal liability if fire causes fatalities. Cllrs Wakeley, Gordon and Gurung gave formal deputations. The Conservative motion to defer for fire safety checks was defeated 6–3 by Labour.
Honest caveat. Conservative Barnet's main forward commitment is a Local Plan rewrite — a 2–4 year statutory process constrained by the London Plan and the Secretary of State's planning powers. Their commitments alone are unlikely to overturn the existing 23 July 2025 approval. But their record opposing the scheme is genuine and on the public record.
🟢🟢 Reform UK Barnet
Most specific commitments of any Barnet party.
Reform UK Barnet gave the most specific forward commitments of any party. Mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham visited the bus station this week and raised the underground garage fire safety issue directly. Cllr Mark Shooter spoke against the scheme as a formal deputation at the Strategic Planning Committee and confirmed he wrote to the Secretary of State.
Their forward commitments include a binding planning policy framework within 12 months and a super-objection threshold — record-breaking objection counts triggering automatic full council review.
🟢🟡 Lib Dem
Strongest GLA accountability work on Edgware.
Hina Bokhari OBE Assembly Member, Chair of the GLA Fire Committee, wrote to the Secretary of State and questioned the Mayor of London five times across three Assembly sessions on London Fire Brigade and electric vehicle fire risks at Edgware. Baroness Caroline Pidgeon raised the underground bus garage at City Hall earlier than any other politician.
Lib Dem forward commitments include a pledge to commission an independent RICS/RIBA review and financial due diligence on the scheme within the first 12 months of the new administration.
Who did not
🔴🔴 Labour Barnet
They approved it. They wouldn't pause it. They wouldn't reply.
"Labour won control of Barnet Council in 2022 on a manifesto that explicitly promised to 'stand up to developers', deliver 'more affordable family homes, not tower-block blight', and introduce tougher height and density policies. Once in power, Labour did the opposite."
— Save Our Edgware briefing, April 2026
All six Labour members of the Strategic Planning Committee voted to approve the scheme on 23 July 2025. The Conservative fire-safety deferral motion was defeated 6–3 by Labour. The committee approved demolition of the existing bus station before any replacement is funded or deliverable. £41.5 million of public Community Infrastructure Levy funds was diverted to the developer Ballymore as a viability subsidy.
David Pinto-Duschinsky MP, Dan Tomlinson MP, and Anne Clarke AM did not write to the Secretary of State and did not lodge a Stage 2 objection at the GLA. The Labour Party office was contacted and asked to forward our questionnaire to all candidates standing in Barnet. No response was received from the Labour Party or any individual Labour candidate in Barnet.
⚪ Green Barnet
The Green Party has no prior public record on the Edgware Town Centre scheme. The party did not respond to our six questions either.
Why this election matters
The scheme isn't finished. The outline approval granted on 23 July 2025 was just the first step. Ballymore's Reserved Matters Applications — the detailed planning decisions on appearance, layout, fire safety, and the bus station replacement — come back to Barnet councillors year after year for individual approval. Most other TfL station sites across Barnet are still pending decision.
Thursday's election decides who votes on all of it.
Residents have been ignored at every stage of this development — at the Strategic Planning Committee, at City Hall, and at Whitehall. Tomorrow is when your voice counts.
Polling day: Thursday 7 May 2026, 7am to 10pm.
Photo ID required (passport, UK driving licence, Older Person's bus pass, Disabled Person's bus pass, Oyster 60+, Blue Badge).
If you're in the queue at 10pm, stay in line — you can still vote.
Read every party's full answers →
Save Our Edgware is a non-party-political residents' campaign opposing high-density tower-block development on TfL station sites in the London Borough of Barnet, with a particular focus on the approved Edgware Town Centre redevelopment. We welcome support from residents of all political views. Read more at saveouredgware.co.uk.