Pickles puts shock 'Stop Notice' on Brent Cross development

The Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood development  is celebrating the shock news that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, has issued an Article 25 so-called “stop notice” preventing Barnet council from granting  planning permission, entering into any agreement or passing any resolution that could influence the site’s planning status without ministerial authorisation.

Coalition co-ordinator Lia Colacicco said:

I had to pinch myself when I saw the email.   Since 2010 the presumption has been to pass everything, so this was a welcome surprise. Many of us wrote to Eric Pickles asking him to call in BXC for a public inquiry given its impact for miles around– and our MP Sarah Teather and Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, also wrote regarding the disbenefits to Brent which have been ignored. We mentioned irregularities in the process, public transport, TfL’s objections, the loss of Cricklewood’s only green space and other green spaces in the wider area, and the selective use of transport assessments.  But above all the impact on the surrounding  areas, particularly the 29,000 extra cars a day.

We deplore the loss of the promised street layout in this new 'town centre', and its last-minute replacement by a bog-standard indoor shopping centre. We also are horrified by the 'secret' new basement voids, that can be quietly turned over to yet another three layers of car parking.  

We have been calling this a dinosaur development because it was conceived in the 1990s - and it shows. There is nothing exciting, visionary or futuristic about it, only basic sustainability measures – just the highest density most profitable option.   North Londoners deserve something exceptional. This is a huge victory for us and our dream of a public inquiry is one step closer.

The group are now hoping that the Secretary of State will reject the recent amendments and call a Public Inquiry. The group is at pains to point out that they are pro regeneration, and pro new homes but against the recent amendments and the missed opportunity to spend some of the £200m planning gain money on better public transport, including possibly light-rail (trams or DLR) for the area.

 The Campaigners

The “Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Plan” comprises twelve residents’ associations plus the Federation of Residents’ Associations in Barnet (representing the 12 largest residents’ associations in Barnet), Brent Cyclists, the North West London Light Railway (NWLLR) group, Brent Friends of the Earth (FoE), Barnet & Enfield FoE, Camden FoE, Sarah Teather (MP for Brent Central), Dawn Butler, (former MP for Brent South), Labour and LibDem Councillors from Brent and Camden, Navin Shah (London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow), Darren Johnson (London Assembly Member), Jean Lambert (London MEP), Brent Green Party, Barnet Green Party, Alexis Rowell, (former Chair of Camden Sustainability Taskforce), Brent and Barnet Trades Union Councils, and Bestway Group. Plus several councillors.

The Coalition web site is at: http://www.brentcrosscoalition.blogspot.com/

Plan to double the size of Brent Cross revived.

The Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Development is digesting a report in yesterday's Evening Standard LINK that Hammersons,  the property developer,  has revived plans to almost double the size of the shopping centre.

The plans would add 600,000 square feet to the existing 800,000 square feet. Alarmingly the Standard suggests that the Section 73 application could be considered in a 'matter of weeks'.

Brent Green Party is a member of the Coalition.

Barnet Rushes Through Brent Cross Plans

This Thursday 29th July, Barnet Council planning and environment committee will be discussing the controversial Brent Cross Cricklewood planning application. The proposals have been recommended for approval by the committee. The Coalition of groups opposing the controversial scheme is questioning the need to rush through the detailed proposals, given that the planning application has to come before the committee in October in any case.

A number of Brent Cross Coalition members have applied to speak in opposition at the meeting, and the opponents will be holding a demonstration outside Hendon Town Hall at 6.30pm .

David Howard, Chair, Federation of Residents Associations in Barnet and BXC Coalition spokesperson, says:

Barnet Council’s decision to rubberstamp plans for the Brent Cross Cricklewood redevelopment at the end of an ordinary planning meeting this week is suspicious, but not surprising.

The scheme has been inadequately negotiated between the Council and developers, and reneges on conditions applied in November. Given that section 106 documents have largely been rewritten, it is completely unclear what the Council is being asked to approve at this week’s meeting.

We would like to know why Barnet have brought the Brent Cross report to committee this week, with barely a week’s notice and at the end of July, when it could have been more fully considered in October. We believe that documents sneaked through without proper scrutiny now will become more difficult to challenge at the October meeting - or at least, that is the Council's intention.