A COALITION of pressure groups has launched a scathing attack ahead of the long-awaited decision on the future of the Brent Cross Cricklewood (BXC) scheme on Wednesday.

The Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Plan has accused developers of “losing” 20,000-cars-a-day in their traffic forecast and says objections submitted to Barnet Council have also gone missing.

The plans for the £4.5bn development, which is expected to be completed by 2026, go before Barnet's planning committee.

Developers the Brent Cross Cricklewood Partnership have said the extra 7,500 homes and 25,000 jobs created will only cause 9,000 more cars a day, while a report by Transport for London puts the figure at 29,000.

They have also accused the partnership of creating a “slanted, selective and by reason of omission partly fictional” community statement.

Lia Colacicco who coordinates the group and lives in Cricklewood said it is “outrageous” the developer has used the lower figures.

She said: “It is outrageous that developers have managed to ‘lose’ 20,000 of the 29,000 extra cars a day from Barnet’s own predictions.

“We challenge the developers how they think the 1,500 new homes at West Hendon can account for 20,000 of the extra 29,000 cars generated.

“What we need is a full public inquiry to thoroughly scrutinize the plans, not the quick rubber stamp of Barnet’s ordinary planning committee.”

However, the BXC Partnership say the figure of 29,000 cars has never been used by them and came from a study from 2003.

They say the changes in use of the site will reduce the number of cars on the road coupled with a shift towards more people using public transport because of the investment in it.

Jonathan Joseph, development ,manager for the partners, said: “We have met with many of these groups and we believe their concerns are unfounded.

“The figure of 29,000 extra vehicles a day on the road network is wrong.  The correct figure for the net extra vehicles per day on the road network, as extrapolated from the BXC Transport Assessment, is between 9,000 and 10,000.  “This is not a particularly significant figure over a full day when considered alongside the approximately 160,000 vehicles daily which already travel along the roads that pass through the regeneration area.”

He added the development would see £200m pumped into improving local road networks close to the site.