Campaigners are hoping to overturn a decision by councillors to approve seven-storey flats and a new supermarket near low-rise homes.

The group of residents claim the 204-home scheme in 231 Colney Hatch Lane, Friern Barnet, will worsen a range of problems in the area, including traffic congestion and pollution.

Barnet Council’s planning committee narrowly gave the go-ahead to the development on December 9 – but the size of the scheme means it will be referred to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and the campaigners hope to convince him to overturn the decision.

READ MORE: Plan for 7-storey blocks at former car showroom wins approval

London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden Andrew Dismore and ward councillors Reema Patel, Barry Rawlings and Pauline Coakley-Webb, from Barnet’s Labour group, have also lodged objections to the development with the mayor.

Sasha Rodoy, a local resident involved in the campaign, said: “We are trying to encourage people to get their objections in as soon as possible.

“There is lot of support, and it’s growing. Every day we are getting more emails from people. This is a serious issue – not just for people in the borough, but for other boroughs. If it can happen here, it is going to happen elsewhere.”

The campaigners have a range of concerns, including increased traffic and pollution on busy Colney Hatch Lane. With only 102 car parking spaces for the flats and 65 for the supermarket, they warn it could cause “huge parking problems”.

They also claim the seven-storey buildings are too high and would not blend in well with the low-rise residential or commercial buildings in the surrounding area.

And they say the scheme is more than double the recommended density for a suburban area as laid out in the New London Plan 2020.

“It is going to tower over everything else in the area,” Ms Rodoy said. “If they get away with it, it means other neighbouring landowners will be able to sell up for developers to build on.”

The campaigner claimed parents already have problems getting their children into local schools, and more homes in the area would worsen the problem.

She added that no-one she had spoken to had received letters from the council notifying them of the development, and only a small number of people turned up to an event held by the developer – even though it claimed to have sent out 2,700 invitations.

The campaigners are encouraging people to send their objections to mayor@london.gov.uk and ensure their addresses are included.

A spokesperson for the developer, Montreaux, said: “We are really proud of this scheme, which brings a vacant, concrete site back to life, creating desperately needed new and affordable homes, a small, convenient supermarket – somewhere people can walk to for a pint of milk – with over a thousand square metres of green space for residents and a much more pleasant kerbside, with new trees, planting and paths to encourage walking. The draft London Plan, set by the Mayor of London, recognises how important it is that we do build new homes and create new places on empty sites like this.

“Designed sensitively by award-winning architects, it meets or exceeds all policy and standards including on air quality, traffic and parking – a difficult balance to strike as we move away from reliance on the private car for the sake of the environment. We are also pleased to be contributing to new play space and equipment, as we know this is something the local area needs.”

A Barnet Council spokesperson said: “Public consultation was undertaken in line with major developments of this size. For this application, 240 notification letters were sent out, as well as posting of a site notice and advertisement in the local press.”