Crews Hill New Town: What the Government's Latest Planning Powers Could Mean for Businesses, Jobs and the Green Belt
Updated: Sep 3
Update — 3 September 2026: On 1 September 2026, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook and MHCLG New Towns co-director Lise-Anne Boissiere gave oral evidence to the House of Lords Built Environment Committee. Enfield Dispatch, reporting from that hearing, says Pennycook confirmed that the government's final choice of New Town locations is expected before the end of 2026 and that nearly 3,000 responses were received during the spring consultation. Crews Hill and Chase Park remain a proposed priority intervention in the March 2026 Draft New Towns Programme, but no final designation has yet been announced. The original August article is preserved below. Sources: UK Parliament — Built Environment Committee, 1 September 2026 oral evidence; Enfield Dispatch — 2 September 2026 update; GOV.UK — New Towns Draft Programme.
Crews Hill is an established Green Belt place: an open, semi-rural landscape shaped by horticulture, land-based activity, local businesses, homes and community life over generations.
In the space of just a few days, two major government announcements have changed the context in which the future of Crews Hill must now be considered.
On 23 August 2026, the Government announced plans to give mayors across England stronger powers to take over strategically important planning applications. On 24 August it published the detailed consultation. You can read the Government consultation on mayoral planning powers here.
On 25 August 2026, the Government published details of the first major wave of funding from its £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, including nearly £10 billion of initial allocations for council, social and affordable housing.
Taken together, these announcements indicate a strong Government priority to accelerate housebuilding and deepen mayoral involvement in strategic planning decisions. What that means for Crews Hill is an interpretation that needs to be considered alongside the formal planning process, local policy and future consultation outcomes.
Why the latest mayoral planning announcement matters for Crews Hill
The new consultation is not simply about giving mayors a louder voice. It sets out powers under which mayors can call in planning applications of potential strategic importance and, in relevant cases, become the planning authority responsible for determining them.
It also covers Mayoral Development Orders — a mechanism that can proactively grant planning permission for specified development without a conventional individual planning application being submitted.
London already has significant mayoral planning powers, and the consultation makes clear that the Government sees the London model as a foundation for wider reform.
This does not mean that planning decisions become literally beyond challenge. But it does mean that, for major schemes, the balance of power can move above borough level.
For Crews Hill, that distinction matters enormously.
Enfield has withdrawn support — but the New Town has not disappeared
On 28 May 2026, Enfield Council formally withdrew its support for the New Town process and committed itself to a brownfield-first approach while continuing to support new homes and jobs.
That was a significant change in local policy. It did not, however, amount to a national cancellation of the proposed Crews Hill and Chase Park New Town.
The Government’s March 2026 draft New Towns Programme says Crews Hill and Chase Park could deliver up to 21,000 homes, while also acknowledging that the potential impacts on the natural landscape could be significant.
The Mayor of London has also previously welcomed the inclusion of Crews Hill and Chase Park in the New Town programme, while saying proposals remain at an early stage and protected open spaces should be safeguarded. See the Mayor of London's published answer on Crews Hill and green spaces.
if Enfield Council opposes large-scale development at Crews Hill, but the Mayor and national Government consider it strategically important, how much influence will the borough ultimately have over the outcome?
Crews Hill is being discussed as land. It needs to be discussed as a place
Planning maps show hectares. Housing targets show numbers. Development proposals show boundaries. But genuine placemaking has to begin by understanding the place that is already there.
Welcome to Crews Hill now documents businesses and places across this distinctive area. Explore Welcome to Crews Hill.
Crews Hill is best known for its garden centres, plant nurseries and landscaping businesses, but these sit within a much broader, dispersed pattern of activity woven through an open, semi-rural Green Belt landscape. Pet and equestrian businesses, reclamation and salvage, specialist retail and wholesale, health and wellbeing, trades, makers, sports and community uses all form part of that character.
Many of these businesses have survived recessions, changing shopping habits, internet retail, rising rents, increasing costs and decades of change. Some have been part of Crews Hill for generations.
Crews Hill is not an empty canvas. Nor is it a conventional urban area waiting to be completed. It is a distinctive Green Belt landscape with an established economy and community whose character depends in large part on openness, space and its semi-rural setting.
Placemaking should start with the place that already exists
The language around major development is often about “placemaking”. But Crews Hill is not a blank canvas on which a place needs to be invented. It already has identity, history, businesses, homes, social connections, landscape and patterns of use that have evolved over many years.
Good placemaking should begin by mapping and understanding those existing assets. It should ask what can be protected, improved and connected before asking what can be cleared. Otherwise, the risk is not placemaking but place-breaking: replacing a distinctive semi-rural community with something generic and assuming that new buildings alone can recreate what was lost.
That is why isolated vacant or underused plots should not be allowed to define the whole area. A vacant unit, former golf use or underused car park is not the same thing as a vacant place. The wider Crews Hill landscape remains a functioning and recognisable place whose openness and semi-rural character are part of its value.
Vacancy should not be mistaken for failure
There are vacant units in Crews Hill, just as there are vacant shops and commercial premises in towns across the country. Wider economic pressures, changing retail habits, rising costs and business closures have affected communities everywhere.
Vacancy on its own does not prove that a place has no value or no future. It is also reasonable to ask how many new entrepreneurs would commit money to fitting out premises, building a customer base and signing a lease while the long-term future of Crews Hill remains uncertain.
Planning uncertainty can itself make investment harder. If businesses fear that they may later be forced to close, relocate or operate through years of disruption, some will understandably hesitate before taking on an empty unit. That makes it especially important not to use short-term vacancy as evidence that the wider place is failing or ready to be swept away.
The right response to vacancy should be to create confidence, encourage occupation and support new enterprise — not to assume that empty premises prove Crews Hill should be replaced.
From essential to surplus?
During the Covid pandemic, the importance of gardens and access to outdoor space became impossible to ignore. Gardening gave people exercise, purpose, routine and contact with nature at a time when many were isolated from normal life.
Garden centres and horticultural suppliers formed part of the practical infrastructure that allowed people to care for their homes, gardens and wellbeing.
Only a few years later, it is deeply uncomfortable to see the Crews Hill horticultural economy discussed as though it is simply occupying land that could be put to a more valuable use.
The value of a garden centre cannot be measured only by its tills, and the value of Crews Hill cannot be measured simply by calculating how many homes could theoretically fit on a map.
A vital resource for landscapers, gardeners, growers and makers
Crews Hill serves far more than people buying a few plants on a Sunday afternoon.
Landscapers come for plants, paving, fencing, aggregates, timber and specialist materials. Gardeners and growers come for plants, compost, tools and advice. Horse owners, pet owners, tradespeople and specialist customers use businesses that often need yards, outdoor display areas, loading access and space that would be difficult to reproduce in a conventional town-centre unit. The setting and the uses have grown together over decades.
The concentration is precisely what makes Crews Hill so useful. One journey can serve several suppliers. Smaller businesses benefit from neighbouring businesses. Knowledge, trade relationships and customer habits have developed over decades.
Replacing these dispersed, space-dependent uses with dense urban development and a small number of replacement commercial units would not recreate the place that exists today.
Existing jobs must count too
New development proposals understandably talk about jobs they may create. But existing jobs matter too. Enfield RoadWatch's New Town explainer describes the Golden Mile as supporting more than 1,000 skilled and sustainable jobs.
Behind the nurseries, garden centres, cafés, landscaping suppliers, pet and equestrian businesses, reclamation yards, specialist retailers, wholesalers, workshops, wellbeing businesses, sports clubs and venues are employees, contractors, suppliers and households whose livelihoods are connected to this place. Their presence should be understood as part of Crews Hill’s established semi-rural economy, not as evidence that the area is already an urban settlement.
how many existing businesses and jobs would be displaced, and exactly where are they expected to go?
For businesses that require yards, loading access, outdoor display areas, bulky-goods storage or affordable land, relocation is not as simple as renting another shop. If suitable replacement land does not exist, relocation may simply mean closure.
The environmental contradiction
Government rightly talks about biodiversity, lower carbon emissions, greener neighbourhoods and healthier lives. Crews Hill already contributes to those aims.
Plants and trees are grown and sold here. Landscapers who maintain gardens and green spaces across London source materials here. People come to learn, grow food, plant trees, create wildlife habitats and improve their outdoor environments.
If specialist businesses are pushed further from London, customers and tradespeople may have to travel further to reach them. That environmental cost needs to be counted alongside the environmental impact of major development itself.
You can also explore the surrounding countryside and green spaces through our Crews Hill & the Green Belt page.
Crews Hill station is important — but it does not tell the whole story
Crews Hill station is repeatedly cited in discussions about the area's development potential. A station is undoubtedly an asset, and better public transport would be welcomed.
But the existence of a railway station should not turn everything around it into expendable land. Accessibility, capacity, local road connections and the practical needs of existing businesses all have to form part of a serious transport assessment.
Mental health and wellbeing have value too
People enjoy coming to Crews Hill. They walk through nurseries, look at plants and flowers, bring their children, meet friends for coffee, browse unusual shops and spend time somewhere green and open without having to travel far beyond London.
Gardens and gardening are supported by a substantial evidence base for physical, mental and social wellbeing. The Royal Horticultural Society’s 2026 Wellbeing Garden Blueprint draws on more than a decade of research and wider scientific evidence.
Housing ambition does not have to mean erasing Crews Hill
Prime Minister Andy Burnham's Government has made housing delivery a major priority. The new funding for social and affordable homes demonstrates the scale of that ambition.
There is a strong case for tackling homelessness, insecure housing and the shortage of genuinely affordable homes. But good government also has to recognise competing needs.
A government serious about growth should recognise existing successful businesses. A government serious about jobs should count existing employment before promising future employment. A government serious about the green economy should understand the value of horticulture. A government serious about communities should recognise that communities are not created simply by constructing houses.
Crews Hill already has a community as well as an economy. Homes, a church, an infant school, two children’s nurseries, sports clubs and venues sit within the wider semi-rural landscape. These are signs of an existing place and local life — not a reason to treat the surrounding Green Belt as if it has already lost its openness or countryside function.
Brownfield first deserves a proper hearing
Enfield Council has said that withdrawing from the New Town process does not mean stepping away from housing delivery. Its stated alternative is a brownfield-first strategy based on underused land and town-centre regeneration. The Enfield Society has also reported on Green Belt release, brownfield capacity and transport concerns during the Local Plan examination.
That deserves serious consideration. Housing need should not become an excuse to stop asking whether homes could be delivered elsewhere with less damage to established employment, businesses, horticulture and Green Belt.
How much of what is here can we clear?
A better question is: what is valuable here, how do we protect the openness and identity that make Crews Hill distinctive, and how could any future change strengthen the existing place rather than erase it?
There is a Government consultation happening now
The Government's consultation on mayoral planning powers runs until 5 October 2026 and explicitly seeks views about potential impacts on businesses, local authorities and communities.
That makes it directly relevant to Crews Hill. Businesses, residents and organisations can respond directly through the Government consultation.
Crews Hill should be championed, not written off
Crews Hill could be better connected and better cared for. Its station needs improved accessibility. Walking routes could improve. The area could be marketed more effectively. Its horticultural identity could be strengthened while other space-dependent rural-edge businesses, recreation and community uses are recognised as part of the same distinctive place.
Those are reasons to invest in Crews Hill, not reasons to erase it.
Imagine Crews Hill properly promoted as London’s horticultural quarter: better transport and accessibility, connected walking routes, horticultural training, green enterprise and independent businesses flourishing within — rather than at the expense of — its open, semi-rural character.
Growth does not always require demolition. Sometimes growth means recognising the extraordinary resource that already exists and helping it flourish.
Support Crews Hill now
Whatever the future brings, Crews Hill is still very much open for business.
Visit the garden centres and nurseries. Shop with independent businesses. Use the cafés. Support the trades, makers and specialist suppliers. Bring your family. Tell other people what is here.
Whether you are buying one plant, planning a complete garden, sourcing materials for a landscaping project or simply spending an afternoon exploring, every visit supports the businesses and jobs that make this area distinctive. Discover Crews Hill businesses and places to visit.
Crews Hill is a workplace, a destination, a horticultural centre and a community — all within a distinctive Green Belt landscape. Its value lies not in being empty, and not in being urban, but in the relationship between open land, semi-rural character, long-established businesses, recreation, homes and community life.
Sources and further reading
Key official and local sources used in this article:
Explore the place that already exists
Crews Hill is more than the subject of a planning proposal. Explore the businesses, community, open spaces and specialist destinations that make it a place today.
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