Mayor gives go ahead to £4.5 billion Brent Cross regeneration
(12 March 2010)

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has today (12th March 2010) approved plans for a major regeneration project, which will create a new town centre at Brent Cross in Cricklewood, north London. The £4.5 billion scheme is a welcome boost to the local economy in Barnet and to London as a whole. It aims to bring a total of 27,000 new jobs to the area, including skills training for local people, all serving to help drive London forward and out of the recession.

The scheme will provide a new gateway to London and a vibrant new urban quarter in Barnet. The plans for a whole new town centre based around Cricklewood and Brent Cross would create more jobs, affordable homes, new schools, new health facilities, high quality parks and open spaces, and major improvements to local transport facilities.

The project will see improvements to highways and road junctions in the area, equipping it to efficiently carry any extra traffic arising from the development. The new public transport measures in the scheme will be managed by a new Transport Strategy Group, with representatives from Transport for London, Barnet Council and the developers.

However, Liberal Democrat Councillors Alec Castle and Paul Lorber have objected to the scheme on the grounds of traffic and parking issues. They issue a letter stating "we have restated Brent’s formal opposition to the plans, and made clear that until key wider planning aspects of importance to us are resolved, our strong objections will remain.

The developers have paid little attention to transport issues, and without measures in place to alleviate the likely problems of thousands of extra cars and heavy freight lorries navigating the streets off Cricklewood Broadway and Edgware Road, the impact in Cricklewood, Dollis Hill and Dudden Hill would be devastating.

In our view, no work should begin until appropriate traffic measures and parking restrictions have been formally agreed and put in place. These in turn must be properly informed and influenced by a long-awaited study on the wider traffic flow around the A5 Corridor."

The Mayor of London’s team has worked closely with the council and developers to secure the maximum number of affordable homes possible. This will be reviewed at each phase to ensure there are opportunities to add more affordable housing in line with changing market conditions.

The Mayor said: “This is another great example of pushing ahead with major development and infrastructure improvements to create jobs, and boost the capital’s economic growth, while transforming the quality of life of thousands of Londoners. The scheme will bring a new vitality to a part of the capital in need of regeneration.

“Having carefully considered the proposal I am satisfied that the application fulfils the need to have the kinds of transport links that will bring fluidity and rejuvenation to Brent Cross while avoiding potential problems caused by any extra traffic.”

Visit www.brentcrosscricklewood.com for further information.