The proposals for the redevelopment of Brent Cross seem to have been
going on since the turn of the century. Like many recent developments it is
just over the border from Brent and has received opposition from Kilburn,
Dollis Hill and Cricklewood residents.
This is the Barnet Green Party's submission:
Barnet Council is currently considering a massive planning application
for the Brent Cross Cricklewood redevelopment, including a huge extension to
the shopping centre and a whole new residential town.
Barnet Greens say the BXC plans are full of utter ‘greenwash’, seeking
to create a false impression about the environmental sustainability of this
multi-billion pound project.
Here are the main objections we have submitted to the council:
1.These plans must be suspended until the development partners pledge to
make the whole site carbon neutral and set out measures they will take to
achieve that target. Sainsburys has already opened its first carbon neutral
store (bit.ly/1bjnRQG) and plans to open more, showing that the technologies
are available to make the Brent Cross shopping centre and the housing
developments completely carbon neutral or carbon positive.
The proposed buildings are likely to exist for several decades at least
and there is no way whatsoever that the British government will achieve its aim
of a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 if concrete giants
like the Brent Cross shopping centre are still belching out carbon dioxide from
heating, lighting and air conditioning.
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 positive, never mind carbon
neutral.
So why aren’t they doing it? As well as benefitting the environment,
carbon neutrality would save money for the people who live in the new town and
for the businesses, as their energy bills would be much lower – they might
even make money by feeding electricity back into the grid.
Can it be that the developers are more interested in building cheaply
than in saving on running costs for the future occupants of the homes and
commercial buildings?
2. At a time when neighbourhood shopping areas are under threat all over
London from post office closure, cut backs to libraries and the marginal
viability of many small shops and pubs, Barnet Council should be making a
broader study, paid for by the developers, of the likely impact of Brent Cross
Cricklewood on other shopping areas in the borough.
The scheme is not just about new housing and a so-called town centre,
the whole thing is based on “an expanded and improved shopping centre”, with an
“enhanced retail offer including new stores at Brent Cross Shopping Centre”, to
cite the developers’ own documents.
3.When the council has assessed the likely impact, it should order the
developers to pay whatever it costs to ensure the sustainability of Hendon,
Golders Green and the other nearby centres: better street layouts, improved
public transport, more greenery, more public toilets, more benches to rest on
or whatever it takes to ensure that these neighbourhood areas remain available
and attractive for local residents to use.
4/ As for the transport issues surrounding the new plans, of course
there should be a direct rail link to the expanded shopping centre rather than
more car parking. The developers say they expect cars still to be the main way
that people get there but why is that? People will no doubt continue to want to
shop at Brent Cross but why should they necessarily go by car? Do people mostly
go to Oxford Street or Westfield shopping centres by car? Of course not,
because they are properly served by London Underground lines and by buses.
The Brent Cross Cricklewood developers should be instructed to provide
attractive and adequate Tube/train/tram, bus, cycle and pedestrian links for
there to be a likelihood of far fewer than the projected extra 29,000 car
journeys per day in the area.
5.The Clitterhouse Farm buildings should be saved. Preserving them would
only require minor alterations to the overall plan.
6. f waste treatment facilities are to remain part of the plan, it
should be specified that the priority should be sustainable systems such as
anaerobic digestion and/or other systems from the growing range of alternative
technologies.
7. It should be specified that no waste incineration should take place
at the Geron Way cite. A new waste plan is under consideration for North London
and it would be simple and cost-free for the designers of that plan to omit any
proposal for incineration at Geron Way. This would in any case match the
practicalities of the site, given the current objections by Bestway and others.
Barnet Council is currently considering a massive planning application
for the Brent Cross Cricklewood redevelopment, including a huge extension to
the shopping centre and a whole new residential town.
Barnet Greens say the BXC plans are full of utter ‘greenwash’, seeking
to create a false impression about the environmental sustainability of this
multi-billion pound project.
Here are the main objections we have submitted to the council:
1/ These plans must be suspended until the development partners pledge
to make the whole site carbon neutral and set out measures they will take to
achieve that target. Sainsbury’s has already opened its first carbon neutral
store (bit.ly/1bjnRQG) and plans to open more, showing that the technologies
are available to make the Brent Cross shopping centre and the housing
developments completely carbon neutral or carbon positive.
The proposed buildings are likely to exist for several decades at least
and there is no way whatsoever that the British government will achieve its aim
of a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 if concrete giants
like the Brent Cross shopping centre are still belching out carbon dioxide from
heating, lighting and air conditioning.
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 positive, never mind carbon
neutral.
So why aren’t they doing it? As well as benefiting the environment,
carbon neutrality would save money for the people who live in the new town and
for the businesses, as their energy bills would be much lower – they might
even make money by feeding electricity back into the grid.
Can it be that the developers are more interested in building cheaply
than in saving on running costs for the future occupants of the homes and
commercial buildings?
2/ At a time when neighbourhood shopping areas are under threat all over
London from post office closure, cut backs to libraries and the marginal
viability of many small shops and pubs, Barnet Council should be making a
broader study, paid for by the developers, of the likely impact of Brent Cross
Cricklewood on other shopping areas in the borough.
The scheme is not just about new housing and a so-called town centre,
the whole thing is based on “an expanded and improved shopping centre”, with an
“enhanced retail offer including new stores at Brent Cross Shopping Centre”, to
cite the developers’ own documents.
3/ When the council has assessed the likely impact, it should order the
developers to pay whatever it costs to ensure the sustainability of Hendon,
Golders Green and the other nearby centres: better street layouts, improved
public transport, more greenery, more public toilets, more benches to rest on
or whatever it takes to ensure that these neighbourhood areas remain available
and attractive for local residents to use.
4/ As for the transport issues surrounding the new plans, of course
there should be a direct rail link to the expanded shopping centre rather than
more car parking. The developers say they expect cars still to be the main way
that people get there but why is that? People will no doubt continue to want to
shop at Brent Cross but why should they necessarily go by car? Do people mostly
go to Oxford Street or Westfield shopping centres by car? Of course not,
because they are properly served by London Underground lines and by buses.
The Brent Cross Cricklewood developers should be instructed to provide
attractive and adequate Tube/train/tram, bus, cycle and pedestrian links for
there to be a likelihood of far fewer than the projected extra 29,000 car
journeys per day in the area.
5/ The Clitterhouse Farm buildings should be saved. Preserving them
would only require minor alterations to the overall plan.
6/ If waste treatment facilities are to remain part of the plan, it
should be specified that the priority should be sustainable systems such as
anaerobic digestion and/or other systems from the growing range of alternative
technologies.
7/ It should be specified that no waste incineration should take place
at the Geron Way cite. A new waste plan is under consideration for North London
and it would be simple and cost-free for the designers of that plan to omit any
proposal for incineration at Geron Way. This would in any case match the
practicalities of the site, given the current objections by Bestway and others.
Check out the plans for yourself here:
http://www.brentcrosscricklewood.com/
- See more at:
http://www.barnetgreenparty.co.uk/any-new-brent-cross-buildings-must-be-carbon-neutral/#sthash.EZbHnRf7.dpuf
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