A £1 BILLION package of transport and community benefits is set to be delivered as part of the mammoth Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration project.

The £4.5b development, due to go before Barnet planners on September 23, will see more that £700m invested in transport and road improvements, including £50m at Staples Corner.

£109m will be spent on community infrastructure, including new health facilities and three new schools.

Jonathan Joseph, development manager for Brent Cross Cricklewood Development Partners, said: "This is one of the largest packages of investment ever from a single planning application in the UK.

"The regeneration, delivered over the course of around 20 years, will integrate existing local communities, bringing new health, community, education and sporting facilities.

"It will also provide high quality open spaces, a thriving high street, a transformed Brent Cross Shopping Centre and new public transport links."

The proposed 151-hectare site stretches from the Brent Cross Shopping Centre to the north, the A41 and Brent Cross London Underground station to the east, Cricklewood Lane to the south and the A5 to the west.

An estimated 27,000 new jobs and 7,500 new homes are due to be created, and the developers aim to cut carbon emissions by up to 60 per cent.

Barnet Council leader Mike Freer said: "This is a once in a generation opportunity to secure significant investment in part of our borough that needs a major boost."

However, objectors claim the additional 9,000 cars expected in the area will cause severe congestion and parking problems.

Barnet resident John Cox, spokesman for London Campaign for Better Transport, criticised the "car-based plan".

He said: "This scheme uses 'green-wash' on what is really a 1980s-style mega-proposal that fails to bring benefits to north-west London.

"Most of the 'planning gain' money is being wasted and should instead be spent on a new light railway through the whole site, which could transform orbital public transport in Brent and Barnet."

Mr Joseph said the investment in public transport and intrastructure would mitigate any additional road use.

He said: "Will this jam up the roads? No, because we will make significant road improvements to aid the dispersal of traffic.

"We are also building a new railway station, a new bus station, new bridges and a new cycling route.

"We expect that by the time the development is complete, only a third of all daily journeys will be taken by car, as opposed to 70 per cent now."

The scheme has also come under fire for only providing 15 per cent affordable housing - but Mr Joseph said the target would grow as the market improves, with the eventual aim of hitting 33 per cent.

Mr Joseph said: "Though the scheme can't afford it now, we are still planning to provide 15 per cent affordable housing, as it is very important to have a mixed site.

"But we have an agreed formula by which that amount can go up if the scheme starts to perform better and the market improves."

Brent Council has launched a formal objection to the application amid fears that the relocation of a waste dump on the borough border will cause congestion on residential roads.

Thousands of Brent residents also signed a petition criticising the proposals in June.

Mr Joseph said the new refuse unit was only being moved 100 metres and the additional 300 lorries a day needed to access the site was "not statistically significant". They would also only use the A5, he said, rather than smaller roads.