Barnet Eye: "Barnet Tories approve Cricklewood aggregates superhub"

"Last Thursday night, the Barnet Conservatives forced through the planning permission for the Cricklewood aggregates superhub. This was a story first broken by The Barnet Eye. We noticed some 'unusual' building building works on the railway land to the west of the Midland Mainline. A quick review of Barnet Council's website revealed that a rather sketchy planning application for an aggregates hub. This revealed that there would be a huge number of lorry movements. 

When we posted the story, the local community were unaware. Within days, there were hundreds of objections. Eventually this was withdrawn and a new scheme submitted, which has attracted over 800 objections.

What disgusted me was that the work had begun without planning permission. Whilst there appears to be one rule for ordinary residents, there clearly is another for large companies such as DB rail.

With regards to the actual proposal, I have very mixed feelings. I had a very interesting conversation with the leader of Barnet Council about this subject several months back. Richard stated that 'whether the aggregates come in by road or rail, they will come in anyway. Bringing them to Cricklewood by rail will mean less lorries and less pollution.. He is of course correct in his statement, but it is a far more complex issue."  [LINK]