Coalition formed to fight Brent Cross expansion (From Times Series)
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Barnet groups among opponents to Brent Cross plans
4:20pm Monday 14th September 2009 in News
By Alex Hayes
Jonathan Joseph, development manager for Brent Cross Cricklewood Development Partners, who have proposed the scheme
NEARLY 20 different groups from across the political spectrum have formally formed a coalition to fight the massive Brent Cross Cricklewood Scheme.
Barnet Cyclists and Barnet and Enfield Friends of the Earth are among groups to have joined the new alliance to stop the £4.5 billion scheme.
Brent MPs Sarah Tether and Dawn Butler have also teamed up with the group, which includes ten residents' groups, and two other London transport groups.
Councillors from Brent and Camden have also given their backing to the coalition.
Barnet Council is set to decide the fate of the plans, which will see 7,500 new homes and 27,000 new jobs created on a 151 acre site, next Wednesday.
Group co-ordinator Lia Colacicco said: “We're not against regeneration completely, but we feel this particular plan is not sustainable.
“We believe Barnet Council will pass these plans, they have been working with the developers for more than ten years, but we want to put pressure on to get a planning inquiry.”
The group are unhappy with many facets of the plans, including transport solutions, the environmental impact and the scale of the project.
Last week a £1bn package of transport and social schemes was unveiled by the developer Brent Cross Cricklewood Development Partners.
They say investment in parking and roads through the package will mitigate the expected 9,000 extra cars coming to the area because of the plans.
Jonathan Joseph, the development manager, added: "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."
Documents for the planning meeting will be released by Barnet Council tomorrow.
Jon10 says...
8:13pm Mon 14 Sep 09
It is remarkable how similar the planning application is to Barnet's outline "Development Framework" of six years ago - including the 29,000 extra cars every day on our roads.
In other words, there has been no CREDIBLE public consultation since 2004, and the developers' touring caravan exercise was just a sham, merely staffed by extremely underbriefed PR people. Actually, the developers were already into detailed planning, and nothing could be changed at all - they just couldn't tell us that!
Barnet must also realise that allowing the developers to spend fifty million pounds on Staples Corner, and so on, is a terrible waste of money, that could better be put towards public transport - that might be light-rail through the area, and joining up the two branches of the Northern Line, for the first time since 1939.
The planning-gain money from Brent Cross, Colindale and Mill Hill East is enormous, and could be combined, for the benefit of EVERYONE in Barnet, Instead it is being wasted by a very blinkered Planning and Strategy department.
Oh well, there goes the only chance in our lifetimes - just for short-term gain by the Brent Cross developers!