An artist's impression of the proposed Brent Cross development

Barnet Green Party is urging local people to write in the next seven days to Communities Secretary John Denham to demand a public inquiry into the the 4.5 billion pounds Brent Cross Cricklewood redevelopment.

Objectors have only until March 12^th to make their views known to Denham, who will then decide whether to over-rule Barnet Council’s approval and call in the plan for further assessment.

“The whole scheme is monstrously unsustainable and would have a damaging effect on wide swathes of North London well beyond the boundaries of Barnet borough,” said Andrew Newby, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Hendon.

“The housing programmes need major revision to make them sustainable and the planned expansion of Brent Cross shopping centre should be halted completely, having already been rejected at a previous public inquiry.”

Andrew Saffrey, Golders Green candidate for the party in the coming Barnet Council elections, is particularly unhappy at plans for an incinerator, which he believes will blight Golders Green and spread pollution far and wide.

an incinerator in Sheffield

“The waste incinerator has been dressed up in the consultation material as a “gasification plant” or a “CHP station”. Whatever it is called, it will emit large quantities of harmful pollutants from a 140-metre chimney into the suburbs of North London,” he said.

Newby said in a letter to Denham: “Even supposing the developers fulfill their pledges of high standards for all aspects of their monstrous proposals, the scheme is so enormous that it will have an impact on the national target of an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

“The BXC plans include only token sustainability measures, so the expanded shopping centre, the new homes and the other buildings are likely to churn out hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 in their many decades of existence. Residential buildings will only achieve level three (out of six) under the Code for Sustainable Homes although the government’s target is for all buildings be carbon neutral (level six) by 2016.

“This scheme is an ideal opportunity to install energy conservation measures and sustainable power facilities right from the beginning. There is plenty of scope on the site for enough wind turbines, solar arrays and ground source heat pumps to make the whole area carbon negative, never mind carbon neutral. Yet the requirement for 20% renewable energy is proposed to be met entirely by burning domestic waste. Not a single solar panel or wind turbine is proposed.”

Newby also says: “Any expansion of Brent Cross would undoubtedly have further harmful affects on the several shopping areas within a few miles of the development.

“Shopping districts likely to suffer from would include Golders Green, Hendon, Temple Fortune and Finchley Central. Many businesses in those areas are already struggling under the impact of the recession and Barnet Council should not have approved the BXC plans without studying their likely impact on local communities and implementing measures needed to support those communities.

Saffrey said in his submission to the ministry: “With an estimated 29,000 vehicle trips a day predicted to be generated by this development, clearly this project is seriously jeopardising efforts to control and reduce CO2 emissions.”

“Suggestions that a light-rail system is sorely needed to serve Brent Cross have been derided by Conservative councillors yet providing light rail has been enormously successful in other large-scale development projects, notably Canary Wharf,” said Saffrey.

Newby said: “With a general election coming up and a number of marginal labour seats nearby there is a good chance of Denham calling in the plan if enough people write in.”

If you want to ask the minister to call in the plans, send a message to: john.denham@communities.gsi.gov.uk

or send a letter to:

The Rt. Hon John Denham MP
Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government
Eland House, Bressenden Place
London
SW1E 5DU

An artist's impression of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development

Barnet Planning Committee’s approval of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development is bad for the borough of Barnet, awful for surrounding areas and sets a terrible example for the whole of Britain, say Barnet Greens.

Even supposing the developers fulfill their pledges of high standards for all aspects of their monstrous proposals, there are two overwhelming reasons why the project should have gone to a public inquiry.

The size of the scheme is so enormous that it will have an impact on the national target of an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. The BXC plans include only token sustainability measures, so the expanded shopping centre, the new homes and the other buildings are likely to churn out hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 in their many decades of existence.

Barnet Greens want solar panels on all roofs at the Brent Cross Cricklewood development. Barnet Green Andrew Newby shows a cheap and effective water heating panel.

It is vital that all nations reduce their CO2 emissions rapidly in order to prevent global temperatures rising to levels likely to trigger environmental disaster. But there is no chance of Britain achieving its crucial CO2 reduction target if other planning authorities adopt the Barnet committee’s approach of ignoring the broad environmental impact of major projects.

World leaders attending the climate change summit in Copenhagen next month will be wasting their time if their pledges of action are undermined by people such as the members of Barnet planning committee who fail to appreciate the urgency of the crisis.

Nearer to home, the expansion of Brent Cross is certain to damage the viability of nearby shopping districts including Golders Green, Hendon, Temple Fortune and Finchley Central. Many businesses in those areas are already struggling under the impact of the recession and Barnet Council should not have approved the BXC plans without studying  their likely impact on local communities and implementing whatever measures are needed to support those communities.

It is time the council’s Conservative administration stopped ignoring the Sustainable Communities Act act and started accepting their responsibility to ensure that neighbourhoods have the shops, libraries, post offices, playing fields and other community facilities which are essential for all council tax payers to have a decent quality of life.

For more information or to comment contact: Andrew Newby