Brent Cross scheme will bring dust and disruption (From Times Series)

Brent Cross scheme will bring dust and disruption

10:50am Friday 26th February 2010 in

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We feel very upset at the proposed plans for the regeneration of Brent Cross/Cricklewood, not least because of what is planned for Claremont Road. We have lived here for more than 20 years and it is not bad apart from the tailbacks of traffic at peak times.

Claremont Road is a wide pleasant road with the Millenium Green on one side and further up on the other side, the lovely Clitterhouse Playing Fields.

We all appreciate the green lawns and blossom trees outside B&Q in Cricklewood Lane. It lifts the spirits after the business of Cricklewood Broadway, where the congestion and pollution will be made even worse with the extra traffic from Brent Cross. The developers plan to build on this green against the wishes of the residents.

The planned spine road proposed to run parallel to Claremont Road cuts into Edgware Road and Claremont Road, bringing more traffic to the south-east end of our road and the junction with Cricklewood Lane.

Clitterhouse Playing Fields are well used by kite flyers, dog walkers, football and cricket players, and all manner of recreation and exercise by the public and schools, not to mention bats.

The developers wish to fence off part of the field for the school, dissect it and build a pavilion in the middle, thereby losing the open aspect and uninterrupted views of the green and sunsets.

We will lose the free open-air car parking at Brent Cross. An underground paying car park is planned, but with no extra spaces for the new shops and businesses.

The consultations with the public have consisted of a lot of confusing information and spin by the developers to make us believe this regeneration will be of benefit to us all, when it will bring dust and disruption and we will be living on a building site for the next 25 years, blighting our homes.

We believe this development as it is, is too large, damaging and unsustainable. Certain things around Brent Cross do need attention, for example, the access on foot between the shopping centre and Brent Cross Tube station, but as for Cricklewood, we’re not broken and we don’t need fixing.

Mrs J Wicket, Claremont Road, Cricklewood