The council has pledged to crack down on alleged vehicle-dumping by garages carrying out repair work in the streets.

Council officers will treat the garages’ actions as anti-social behaviour and work with the community safeguarding team on a ‘joined-up’ approach to tackle the problems affecting several streets in Coppetts.

Planning enforcement, environmental health and highways teams will work together on a plan to ensure the businesses operate within the law.

The issues – which affects Pembroke Road, Cromwell Road, Hampden Road and Strode Close – were discussed at a meeting of the Chipping Barnet Area Committee on Monday (July 9).

Speaking at the meeting, local resident Catherine Heywood said the garages’ actions meant the streets were becoming ‘industrialised’ and looked more like a business unit than a residential area.

She said residents could not park near their houses as the streets were being used to store vehicles – which were often left on the road for months, without MOTs or road tax – while noise pollution was a constant problem.

Ms Heywood said oil leaks posed a danger to traffic and cyclists, while the emergency services faced access problems due to the vehicles.

She added: “There is a garage in Hampden Road that we work with, which shows we are not against anyone having a business, but the inappropriate and illegal way the business is being carried out and affecting our community.”

Previous visits to the area by council enforcement teams have not found evidence of the behaviour – but ward councillors insisted this was a coincidence and the problems were real.

One of the garages accused of anti-social behaviour – TL Motors – has previously denied the accusations and claimed to have been unfairly targeted.

A spokesperson for SOS Coppetts – a residents’ group set up to tackle the problems – said: “The meeting went well, and we have an agreement to get all the agencies together to work out a way forward.

“Cllr Barry Rawlings and Cllr Pauline Coakley Webb were very supportive, and they are insistent that planning needs to be involved, too, so it looks like we are on the way to getting things resolved – one way or the other.

“We need to keep the pressure on to make sure we really do get some resolution from this.

“We are doing this to restore family values and the quality of life to the area – principles that have prevailed for many years and should – not be lost through anti-social behaviour of a few businesses that have invaded the area and do not care about it.”