Campaigners have slammed “ridiculous” plans to build blocks of flats at a Grade II-listed suburban Tube station.

A group called Save Cockfosters has been set up to oppose plans by Connected Living London – a partnership between Transport for London (TfL) and developer Grainger – to build around 370 homes on the car parks at Cockfosters Underground Station.

The campaigners say the station was originally built as a park-and-ride facility into central London in the 1930s, and it is still used by hundreds of commuters today.

TfL previously admitted three-quarters of the people who use Cockfosters station car park travel in from outside the M25.

A spokesperson for Save Cockfosters said: “Cockfosters is at the end of the line, in a semi-rural location, next to the Green Belt, and it’s a ridiculous idea to remove the car park forever.

“As an end-of-the-line station, it plays an important role as a park-and-ride facility.”

The campaigners say Cockfosters Station and its original car park is a Grade II-listed heritage site, and the car park lies within a designated conservation area encompassing nearby Trent Park.

Despite this, Enfield Council planning chiefs have said the developer does not need to submit a report detailing the likely environmental impact of the scheme.

Council planning officers say an environmental impact assessment is not needed because the scheme “does not involve development in a particularly environmentally sensitive or vulnerable location”.

The Save Cockfosters spokesperson said: “If a listed building and car park within a conservation area isn’t ‘environmentally sensitive’, what is?”

TfL said the current station car parks, built in the 1960s and 1970s – decades after the original station and car park – are not included in the Historic England listing.

It added that around 95 per cent of car park users have an Underground, Overground or National Rail station closer to their home than Cockfosters Underground station.

Ben Tate, head of build to rent at TfL, said: “Working in partnership with Grainger as Connected Living London, we are developing our designs with great consideration being given to the character and important heritage of the local area alongside extensive engagement with the local community.

“By building alongside the urban edge of Cockfosters, we are working to deliver sustainable growth and homes that help to protect the Green Belt, while improving pedestrian access to Trent Park so that countryside is more easily accessible for the public.

“Alongside providing a range of improvements, such as attractive public space, the development would deliver a shift to more sustainable modes of transport by providing better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists including new pathways and cycle parking."

Save Cockfosters will hold a public meeting on the development plans on Thursday, March 19 at 7pm in Christ Church House, Chalk Lane, Cockfosters.

There will also be a protest outside Cockfosters Tube station on Wednesday, April 1 at 8am, and a petition against the scheme has so far attracted almost 3,000 signatures.

Enfield Council has been approached for comment.