True reason for our opposition to Brent Cross plan (From Times Series)

True reason for our opposition to Brent Cross plan

9:57am Friday 3rd September 2010 in

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In answer to Robert Sacks who appears to think those opposing the current Brent Cross plans are solely motivated by a fear of change, we are called the Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Plan.

This is a wide range of individuals and organisations: Barnet and Brent TUCs; three Friends of the Earth groups; more than 12 residents’ organisations; cycling organisations and other transport groups; the Barnet and Brent Green parties, and various MPs, members of the London Assembly and councillors across Barnet, Brent and Camden.

As our name suggests, we are not afraid of change, but are opposed to a scheme stuck at the level of the Eighties, with buildings not built to the highest possible emissions standards, but only at level three of the Code for Sustainable Homes instead of level six (zero carbon).

If all buildings were built to zero carbon standard, then the concept of an energy from waste plant as a sustainability criteria would be simply irrelevant.

What we oppose is a project that automatically blocks changes towards a cleaner, greener environment in north and west London; a light railway which would revolutionise public transport in north west London and make many car journeys superfluous, and any extension of Boris’s cycling superhighway northwards.

And why the rush to ratify the Section 106a agreements when everybody was on holiday?

Are Barnet’s finances in such disarray, especially after the Icelandic Bank scandals, that the council is desperate for the money?

Let’s have a truly sustainable development that the community actually wants, not this outdated dinosaur scheme.

Phil Fletcher, Barnet and Enfield Friends of the Earth