.

.
Click above for what became the consented plan, plus Transport page.

2015-08-28

[Reposted] Wembley Matters: "Dinosaur and developer join protest against loss of Cricklewood green space"


Link to web site

"Demonstrators protesting against the possible loss of the green space outside B&Q in Cricklewood Lane in a deal between Barnet Council and the Brent Cross developers, coped quite well when they were joined by a dinosaur."








[Reposted from Aug 2012] Paul Winter & Co.


Paul Winter & Co - Specialist Planning Lawyers

"Whether you are looking for a standalone planning lawyer to work on a project or a specialist expert planning lawyer to bolt into your wider project team (including other lawyers), we have a track record for success in major and complex developments and we promise to add value to your project."


Brent Cross and Cricklewood Regeneration

[What were we up to?] 
"Advising and acting for the London Borough of Barnet, in relation to the determination of what was probably the largest single planning application in north-west London, and certainly the largest in Barnet."
"The site involves the regeneration and redevelopment of a 218 hectare site which straddles the A407 North Circular Road [sic] and includes the southern junction of the M1 Motorway at Staples Corner. The development includes a large-scale extension of Brent Cross Shopping Centre as well as approximately 7500 dwellings, 4 million square feet of offices, major transport improvements (including new railway and bus stations) and a Combined Heating and Cooling Plant producing on-site renewable energy based on refuse derived fuel or other renewable technologies.

Work has included complex Environmental Impact Assessment and Transport Assessment issues to ensure that the planning permission was robust and the development could evolve over the 20-25 years anticipated development period.

Planning permission was granted in October 2010 on the basis of a very large and complex section 106 agreement containing some innovative solutions. The Mayor and the Secretary of State declined to exercise their statutory powers of direction and/or call-in in relation to this application and work on detailed design and delivery the project continues.

The importance of the BXC project merited a special strategic policy in the Core Strategy and I have also advised on that policy and the related monitoring and review criteria. I also appeared alongside officers of the Council at the Core Strategy Examination Hearing."

Martin Cowie, Assistant Director of Planning and Development Management at the London Borough of Barnet:
"Paul has successfully supported the planning department on a number of high profile and complex cases, demonstrating an ability to resolve issues quickly and collaboratively. As a first rate planning lawyer, he is an asset to any project team.

Always a safe pair of hands, but Paul also brings with him a clear focus and ability to drive solutions forward. [sic] As a skilled negotiator, he is relentless in his pursuit to deliver, and his advice is consistently reliable, timely and robust.

Without a doubt, one of the most effective operators in his field."

[Reposted from Sept 2010] F.O.R.A.B. critique of whole Brent Cross planning application

Federation of Residents Associations in Barnet

19th September 2010

Open letter to all councillors on Barnet Planning and Environment Committee

Dear Councillor,

Brent Cross and Cricklewood Application number C/17559/08

You have been given one more chance at the Planning and Environment Committee on Monday night for sanity to prevail, and to prevent the council incurring large sums in defending an expensive Judicial Review, then paying out costs to the winning plaintiff.

[Reposted. Again.] Hammerson: "Cripes! How do we get out of this mess?"


Glossary of Terms Attached to BXC Outline Planning Permission 

"Phase 1" [of the Brent Cross Cricklewood scheme] shall have the precisely same meaning as the Primary Development Package and PDP (and for the avoidance of doubt, any reference to 'Phase 1' in this Agreement shall include the whole of Phase 1, including Phases 1A, 1B and 1C, unless stated otherwise).

Rarely-seen Hammerson board meeting

2015-08-26

The Guardian: "The quiet revolution in British housing"


"Architects are fighting back. After their cause was hampered by the ill-conceived high-rises of the 60s and 70s, followed by the dire 'traditional' building of the Thatcher era, imaginative and sustainable housing is in the ascendant"

Link to web site

"Once upon a time new housing in Britain was terrible. Engendered by the fearful coupling of utopian architectural fanatics and of bureaucratic automata in local authorities, it was soulless, alienating, malfunctioning and often damp. Such at least is the conventional narrative which, if it overlooks many beautiful and conscientious works now being rediscovered, still contains a portion of truth.

"This was in the time loosely known as the 60s and 70s, an era of state-led homebuilding that would be terminated by Margaret Thatcher, such that another kind of housing could flourish, terrible in a different way: Noddy houses, faux-traditional executive homes, could-be-anywhere progeny of developers’ calculations and planners’ vague strictures on being “in keeping”, brick boxes packed with miniature bedrooms and bathrooms that would look better in estate agents’ particulars than in real life. This story might be oversimplified too, although I can’t immediately see in what way.

"Now, if you look carefully and avert your gaze from large quantities of obvious junk, it is possible to see that some new housing is, finally, not terrible."



"Architect Walter Segal had a long and influential career. In his later years he focused on a series of self-built council housing developments which made use of innovative organising principles. 

"This is the story of Walter’s Way, a little-known street of two-storey houses in Lewisham, which may hold part of the solution to London's housing crisis."


2015-08-20

Wembley Matters: "Monster emerges through the trees at Welsh Harp Reservoir (West Hendon)"


Link to web site

"Readers will remember that there was a broad-based campaign opposing the Barratt Home development on the banks of the Welsh Harp Reservoir at West Hendon. Mainly low-rise social housing was to be replaced by luxury private tower blocks close to a nature reserve and SSSI.

"Unfortunately the campaign did not succeed and Barnet Council went ahead with the scheme. West Hendon Estate residents through their Our West Hendon campaign are fighting what they see as social cleansing of a community and working with Sweets Way residents to challenge Barnet Council.

"Walking the Kingsbury side of the Welsh Harp on Sunday it became clear what an intrusive eyesore these blocks will be. Sold on the basis of the wonderful green view of the Kingsbury bank that the new residents will see, on our side we will see tower blocks the tallest of which is 24 storeys."

2015-08-19

London Housing Crisis: "Nine Elms 'sky pool': Luxury London flat owners will be able to swim while literally looking down on everyone else"


Link to The Independent

"The Nine Elms development on the south bank of the Thames has become a symbol for the growing divide in the London housing market.

"And the huge project, which Boris Johnson pledged would help regenerate the area, looks set to get even more divisive after architects added a glass pool suspended 10 storeys above street level for the exclusive use of the block's residents.

"Prices at Ballymore's 2,000-home complex Embassy Gardens are far above the reach of ordinary Londoners - the tiniest flats come with a price tag of more than £600,000."

2015-08-18

CityMetric: "Naked streets, floating bus stops – and how cycling infrastructure can endanger the blind"


Link to web site

"This week one of the 3,500 blind and partially sighted people who live around Whitechapel High Street in London will step outside and attempt to reach their bus stop. To get there, they’ll find that they have to cross a lane of fast moving cyclists, over whom they have no formal priority and whose silent approach they are unable to detect. According to Transport for London’s (TfL) own research, only 15 per cent of cyclists will stop for them.

"For these people, the disappearance of some plastic roadworks-barriers and the sudden, permanent separation of bus stop from pavement, will be the first indication that any such change had been mooted, discussed, planned, designed, or consulted on.

"According to TfL, the government body responsible for the changes, 'consultation' had indeed taken place for a month in late 2014. Obviously the blind and partially sighted people who are actually affected by the scheme were not asked directly: indeed, scheme designs were never even converted into a form they could access."

The Independent: "Bovis, doing exactly as it should, shows why we have a housing crisis"


"Outlook: The paradox highlights one of the many problems of leaving the housing demands of a growing and varied population to the cold logic of the free market"

Link to web site

"If ever we needed telling, Bovis has confirmed it in black and white: Britain doesn’t have a hope of hitting the Government’s 200,000 annual housebuilding target. Ever.

"The reasons are legion. We don’t have enough brickies and plumbers, planning permission is hard to get, and the more we build, the more prohibitively pricey the materials become.

"Tutting and shaking its head like all good builders, Bovis cited all these usual factors. But it also raised another: the lack of available finance for its smaller peers to get new homes started.

"While the City is funding the likes of Bovis and Persimmon, banks, and even the government-funded schemes, are still demanding high rates of interest and onerous terms for the smaller independent players. And without them, we’ll never build the homes we need."

2015-08-17

House of Lords Select Committee: Perhaps someone can explain LB of Barnet's corrupt Brent Cross Cricklewood planning consent to their lordships...


Link to web site

"The House of Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment has published its Call for Evidence. Interested parties are invited to submit written evidence to the Committee by 6 October 2015."

"The new House of Lords Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment has today issued its call for written evidence, setting out the scope of its inquiry and asking for evidence submissions.

"Issues around housing and the built environment are a pressing concern in England with parts of the country facing acute housing shortages and an affordability crisis, while the legacy of poorly planned and designed developments can blight communities.

"The Committee will seek to establish what steps can be taken to ensure better planning and design and whether we have the right balance between national policy and local accountability for planning decisions. It will also examine the pressing national need for appropriate homes for a changing population, bearing in mind that decisions taken today will have continuing effects in the years to come.




Chairman's comment

"Commenting Baroness O’Cathain, Chairman of the Committee, said:
"We live, travel and work in the built environment and it affects us all in numerous ways, from our health and happiness to the strength of our communities and the prevalence of crime and anti-social behaviour. It is increasingly clear that the design and quality of our places, and therefore our lives, could be improved.

"We need to plan our built environment to meet future demographic, environmental, economic and social challenges. Design and architecture, public and green spaces, the sustainability and resilience of buildings and the provision of vital infrastructure are all essential parts of this process. To achieve this, we need the right priorities, policies and incentives from national Government and the sufficient skills and resources for local government to deliver on an ambitious vision for the future. In this country we have a wonderful heritage of excellent housing in lovely settings; we must ensure that future generations can be proud of the legacy resulting from the decisions and actions of this generation.

"The supply of housing is a long-standing problem; delivery has neither kept up with public need nor politicians' targets. We need to look at new ways of tackling the obstacles that have prevented progress being made and we need an appropriate planning regime to ensure a balance between giving local residents a voice and meeting our urgent needs.

"Improving our built environment is likely to be a key area for Government policy over the next decade and our inquiry gives people the chance to make their voice heard. When it comes to the built environment, all of us have views on the places we live, and I would therefore encourage as many people as possible to send us written evidence before our deadline on 6 October."
"The call for written evidence contains thirteen questions that the Committee wish to receive responses to."





2015-08-16

Fighting back against Barnet's corrupt Brent Cross Cricklewood planning consent: Whitefields Estate on Facebook


Link to Facebook

"We, the COMMUNITY at Whitefield Estate are not willing to give up OUR HOMES for a Living Bridge. Brent Cross Cricklewood GENTRIFICATION IS NOT something we are asking for!!! We live in a safe area surrounded by green spaces, playing field and many trees...This no longer is going to be the case - the regeneration scheme vision is NOT to link communities; it is rather breaking UP communities and ties.

"HANDS OFF OUR HOMES AND OUR COMMUNITY!"

2015-08-07

Barnet Bugle: "West Hendon Estate Regeneration debated on BBC Radio Two"


"Deputy Leader of Barnet Council, Cllr Dan Thomas, puts forward his usual reasoned statesmanlike defence of the West Hendon scheme but then is forced to endure a full-on enslaught from Jasmin Parsons with a series of allegations.

"Paddy O'Connell is sitting in for Jeremy Vine 6 August 2015."

 







2015-08-06

The Guardian: "Why Generation Rent doesn’t care about your precious green belt"


"Just concrete over it. We’d rather have the chance to get off the renting treadmill than the chance to occasionally eat a blackberry"

Link to web site

"Young people – those vile young people, with their club nights and their enthusiasm, with their tight jeans and their wickedness – young people are significantly less likely to care about England's green belt than the over-55s, a survey from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) found this week.

You have to wonder, with no little pity, what Ipsos Mori surveyors do when faced with such a crashingly obvious question. 'Do you, a young person, care about the countryside?' The answer is no. 'Do you, an over-55, care about the countryside?' The answer is yes. Only a thousand more doors to knock on before the survey is done and you can drive home. Only a few hundred more days before death.

Anyway, the CPRE poll found that 53% of over-55s were very pro-retention of the green belt, whereas only 31% of 35- to 44-year-olds were certain it was worth keeping. Private renters were a third less likely than homeowners to feel strongly about saving the nice ring of fields around seven of the UK's major cities."

2015-08-04

Thameslink Programme: "A glimpse of the commuting future as new Thameslink train arrives"



"The UK is now home to the first new Siemens-built Class 700 Desiro City train, which is set to transform passenger experience on the Thameslink rail routes when it rolls into action next year.

"Designed to provide much-needed extra capacity on the South East’s busy commuter routes, the train arrived at the newly constructed Three Bridges train care facility near Crawley, West Sussex in the early hours of 31 July 2015.

"Train manufacturer Siemens and operator Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) will now be undertaking an exhaustive testing programme. Passenger services will begin in spring 2016 on the Thameslink network between Bedford and Brighton and later on routes to and from Cambridge and Peterborough, as well as to other destinations in Kent and Sussex.

"The trains feature intelligent air conditioning, wide doors and open through-carriages that contribute to a more accessible and comfortable passenger experience. They will also bring the following benefits to commuters in 2018 in the morning three-hour peak:
  • Over double the number of carriages, providing 80% more peak seats across central London (between Blackfriars and St Pancras)
  • 60% increase in carriages and over 50% more seats from St Albans to London
  • Additional trains from Gatwick Airport with over 50% more running across central London between Blackfriars and St Pancras, with four trains an hour continuing to Peterborough and Cambridge
  • 1,000 extra seats from Brighton
  • 15% more seats from stations along the line from Peterborough and Cambridge.
Rail Minister Claire Perry['s PR chief] said:
"We are investing record amounts building a world-class railway that provides more capacity, more services and better journeys. The Class 700 trains will transform rail travel for customers and provide a massive jobs boost for Britain and a significant boost to our economy.

The arrival of this first train is a huge step forward for the government-sponsored Thameslink [2000] Programme, which is creating thousands of jobs across the country and is a vital part of our long-term economic plan. I am looking forward to these spacious new trains being introduced across London and the South East on schedule from Spring next year providing quicker, more reliable and more comfortable journeys for millions of customers."

2015-08-03

The Guardian: "Barnet's Sweets Way shows London what regeneration should look like"


"While new luxury developments force out established communities, former residents of the boarded-up estate have refurbished a home for only £300"

Link to web site

"On the penultimate stop of the Northern Line on the London Underground, behind drooping sycamores and down a quiet path, lie 142 boarded-up homes – formerly known as the Sweets Way estate. Every home has its own drive and little garden, and running past each one is a narrow road overlooked by streetlamps. There is a strange quietude to the place now, as though its former residents have simply vanished into thin air and left the estate perfectly preserved behind them.

"Following an agreement with Barnet council, all 142 homes will soon be demolished to make way for 229 new houses and flats, including 59 'affordable' homes. In practice, 'affordable' means the homes will be sold at 80% of the market rate, which in this area of London can be anywhere between £300,000 and £700,000 – prohibitively expensive for any of the former residents.

"Sweets Way estate will become Sweets Way Park, and developers Annington boast they can 'bring new life to local communities through new developments and by enhancing surrounding environments'. Annington's utopian vision of Sweets Way Park, symbolised by the image on its website of a crisp, gleaming family skipping hand-in-hand through the development, belies the reality of events at Sweets Way.

"According to some residents, though it's not clear who was responsible for the evictions, they involved people being dragged screaming out of their homes in February and then offered alternative accommodation as far away as Essex and Luton."