The Independent: "Painting roofs white is as green as taking cars off the roads for 50 years"

Link to The Independent

"Painting roofs white and using light-coloured materials to surface roads and pavements would not only make cities cooler in summer, it would save the same amount of carbon as taking all the cars in the world off the roads for 50 years, a study has found.

"One of the simplest, yet most effective, ways of engineering the urban environment to cope with global warming is to increase the reflectivity of the cityscape, so that more of the incoming sunlight is directed back into space, scientists said."

21-30 April: Fenwick Brent Cross: ORIGINAL PAINTINGS BY ROLF HARRIS

"Whitewall Galleries at Fenwick warmly invites you to come and view an exhibition of original paintings from the incomparable Rolf Harris, opening with a Champagne reception on Saturday 21 April till Monday 30 April. We are delighted to have secured a brand new collection of original paintings from Rolf's Studio.

"Join us in the gallery where we will also be showcasing the 'Signature Collection', a superb series of collectable limited editions which demonstrate that Rolf is an artist at the height of his powers.

"Contact the gallery for further information."

Whitewall Brent Cross, Level 3, Fenwick Ltd, Brent Cross Shopping Centre
T: 020 8203 4712

E: brentcross@whitewallgalleries.com

W: whitewallgalleries.com

FashionMag: "Hammerson scuppers Westfield plans for London mega mall"

Link to FashionMag web site

"Anglo-French developer Hammerson has beaten Westfield Group in a race to redevelop an ageing south London shopping centre, derailing the Australian giant's plans to build its third mega mall in the UK capital. 

"... The company also owns and holds stakes in some of the UK's largest malls, such as the Bullring [sic] in Birmingham, and Brent Cross in North London. On Feb. 24, it said it would sell its office portfolio over the next three years, to focus on retail property."

Paul Woods: Life on the Northern Line

Link to web site

Evening Standard: "Giant pension pot could invest £2.5bn in London"

Link to Evening Standard

"Council leaders are considering combining London’s local authority pension funds, freeing them to invest up to £2.5  billion a year in infrastructure projects in the capital.

"They are debating a plan to unite the pension funds from the 33 boroughs, Transport for London and the London Pension Fund Authority, which looks after pensions for ex-employees of the former Greater London Council.

"This would create a £30 billion pot, and allow up to £2.5 billion a year to be reinvested in London projects such as social housing, transport, waste disposal and recycling."

Vole O'Speed: The Great Divide Ride (plus Park Lane cycle)

Link to Vole O'Speed web site

The Great Divide Ride on 25 March, highlighting the brutal severance of north London for cycling by the barrier of the North Circular Road, attracted about 80 cyclists from Barnet and adjacent boroughs: quite a turn out for a cycle protest in the outer suburbs.

"... Mark Wagenbuur wrote:

"I recently came across a video of a crossing of London’s North Circular Road. The way cyclists have to maneuver through traffic, some of which heavy goods transportation, is shocking to anyone I believe. But if you are familiar with the situation on Dutch roads even more so."

"So a Dutchman thinks that the conditions cyclists have to endure to make what should be simple journeys in the North London suburbs are 'shocking to anyone'. Here is a cultural Great Divide. For they are clearly not shocking to most British people. If they were really shocking to them, they would be changed."

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Sat. 28 April - click for details

Credit Rating Agency Fitch says Hammerson is 'BBB+' (although A-Levels are not what they were)

Link to web site

TEXT-Fitch afrms Hammerson at 'BBB+'; otlk stbl

"Jean-Pierre Husband, a Director in Fitch's EMEA Corporate Finance team, said:

"Hammerson's decision in March 2012 to concentrate on its retail portfolio, and sell its office portfolio over the medium term, should allow it to better lever its specialist retail asset management skills, and maintain the group's solid business, operational and financial profile."

"... Although Fitch has generally assessed sector diversification as credit positive in its EMEA Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) ratings, the agency also believes that concentration on one sector can provide operational and financial upside for all stakeholders, provided the portfolio has a critical size and the management has strong specific skills within a given asset class (which Hammerson has in retail)."

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Link to HOME (see all posts).

'Minder' at Brent Cross (spending their nice little earner)

Series 2 Episode 3
'You Lose Some, You Win Some'

"Bloopers: Watch carefully in this episode when Terry & Maurice arrive at the shopping centre in Brent Cross. From the second they arrive the other shoppers are watching them - as they go up the escalator you can see the whole shopping centre staring at them." Source

"After an evening at the casino, Maurice calls Terry
to tell him his wife Maureen has gone missing.
Maurice and Terry head to Brent Cross Shopping Centre
to find her, driving over the flyover."
Er, that's it.
But click for more screen-shots.

Vole O'Speed: Boris Valley Path, and cycling to Brent Cross

Link to Vole O'Speed web site

"In exploring the Brent Cyclists route to the Great Divide Ride starting point at New Southgate, I was able to confirm that at least one small good thing has happened for cycling in Barnet recently (which I had already read of in newspaper reports): the stream-side path from Hendon Lane to Hendon Avenue, through Windsor Open Space,  has been re-vamped, and given new (rustic, wooden) signage, and the signs banning cycling are gone (though I did not see any specifically encouraging cycling either).

"...  The new shared path is only half a mile long, and there is some merit in the arguments of opponents, to the extent that it is not actually wide enough for sharing. Beyond Hendon Avenue the path continues but has not been resurfaced, and is un-cycleable, so one must return to the road. The cycle path could, in principle, with sufficient investment and political will, be made to go the whole four miles or so along the stream from Totteridge in the north to Hendon in the south, or even to Brent Cross, and link in to another path, now banned to cyclists, east-west along the Mutton Brook from Hendon to East Finchley, which would give cyclists a nice route parallel to part of the North Circular Road. 

However, such grander 'Greenway' plans have never made much progress in this part of London, despite some abortive efforts by Sustrans."

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Long Distance Walkers Association

The profile above is of the Dollis Valley Greenwalk, from the Long Distance Walkers Association web site (the lowest point is crossing the North Circular Road). 

"Dollis Valley Greenwalk is a 10-mile riverside walk from Mill Hill to the northern friges [sic] of Hampstead Heath linking areas of public open space along the valley of the Dollis Brook, a tributary of the Brent, that rises near Arkley. It passes through Moat Mount Nature Reserve, Barnet Gate Wood, an ice age forest remnant, Totteridge Fields, and under Mill Hill viaduct. It provides many habitats for plants and other wildlife. Spot colourful flashes of the Kingfisher in Finchley or Ragged Robin in Brook Farm open space.

Most of the route is moderately flat and surfaced, and is suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs. The path is waymarked with white direction arrows on a green disc. It is designed to link with the public transport system, and also links the London Loop with the Capital Ring, and is coincident with each for part of its route."

North London Waste Plan: Hearings

NORTH LONDON WASTE PLAN

Public Examination

DRAFT HEARINGS PROGRAMME

 Day 1 – Tuesday 12 June 2012, 10.00am
  

Main Matter 1:  Legal Issues

Draft Participants

The Councils	120 - Southgate Green Association
2 - Pinkham Way Alliance Ltd	126 - Bestway (Holdings) Limited
36 - Thomas Rice-Smyth	133 - Legal & General Life Fund         Limited Partnership
57 - East of England Waste Technical        Advisory Body
	271 - Evelyn Ryan
79 - South East Waste Planning        Advisory Group	277 - Freehold Community Centre
	296 - Greater London Authority
96 - Rockcliffe Technology Ltd

Main Matter 2: The Need for Waste Management Facilities

Draft Participants

The Councils	81 - FCC/Skanska
2 - Pinkham Way Alliance Ltd	103 - Thames Water Property
7 - London Development Agency	126 - Bestway (Holdings) Limited
48 - Barnet Labour Group	133 - Legal & General Life Fund         Limited Partnership
57 - East of England Waste Technical        Advisory Body
	135 - Ms Stefania Porcu
62 - Enfield Conservatives	296 - Greater London Authority
65 - Michael Scholand
79 - South East Waste Planning        Advisory Group

 Day 2 – Wednesday 13 June
 

Main Matter 3: Spatial Strategy

Draft Participants

The Councils	87 - Lee Valley Regional Park
2 - Pinkham Way Alliance Ltd	103 - Thames Water Property
32 - Stephanie Milverton/Mary Smith	126 - Bestway (Holdings) Limited
62 - Enfield Conservatives	133 - Legal & General Life Fund         Limited Partnership
79 - South East Waste Planning        Advisory Group
	296 - Greater London Authority
81 - FCC/Skanska

Main Matter 4: Sites (Policies 1 and 2)

Draft Participants

The Councils	126 - Bestway (Holdings) Limited
2 - Pinkham Way Alliance Ltd	133 - Legal & General Life Fund         Limited Partnership
81 - FCC/Skanska
89 - Lichen Renewal	134 - NLWA
125 - Bywaters Ltd	296 - Greater London Authority

 Day 3 – Thursday 14 June
  

Specific Sites: Geron Way

Draft Participants

The Councils	267 - Brent Cross Cricklewood (BXC) Development Partners
126 - Bestway (Holdings) Limited
296 - Greater London Authority

 Days 4 and 5 – Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 June

Specific Sites: Pinkham Way

(lengthy list, shown here)

 Day 6 – Thursday 21 June

Main Matter 5: Policies 2 and 4

Draft Participants

The Councils	133 - Legal & General Life Fund
2 - Pinkham Way Alliance Ltd	Limited Partnership
87 - Lee Valley Regional Park	134 - NLWA
89 - Lichen Renewal	296 – Greater London Authority
126 - Bestway (Holdings) Limited

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Link to HOME (see all posts).

Institute of Economic Affairs: "Abundance of Land, Shortage of Housing"

Link to PDF files

"... The most likely explanation for [opposition to reform] is that. besides a lot of scaremongering and plain misinformation, these groups were able to revert to straw men, red herrings and blind alleys which have muddled the housing policy debate for far too long.

In the housing debate, supply-side conditions are too often taken as given, and high housing costs, poor housing conditions and overcrowding are then erroneously treated as ‘market outcomes’. This results in a counterproductive tendency to concentrate on what are at best side issues, and more often just non-issues. 

The latest British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) provides a good summary of the state of the debate. It shows that a majority is aware of the problems in the housing market, but would like to see them resolved without additional development. 

When asked, ‘if the government were going to do something to make homes more affordable, what do you think the most useful action would be?’, 69% of respondents favoured demand-side measures, such as subsidies for home buyers.

Only 5% chose the rather straightforward option ‘allow developers to build more homes’.

River Island at Brent Cross: FASHION SHOW & GREAT OFFER

"Click, download and print out the voucher, to save £5 off spends over £25. Valid 9th to 21st April."

Daily Telegraph: "Are these the ugliest buildings in the world?"

Link to Daily Telegraph

[The rebuilt North Circular Road will go through the two arches.

And the thing will be painted white.]

"Are these the ugliest buildings in the world?"

In pictures: "21 of the ugliest buildings ever designed and built." 

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Just Fancy That ...

Daily Telegraph, 29 March:
"Access denied: the London landmark skyscrapers off limits to the public"

BBC, 9 April
"Trespassers reached top of London's Shard skyscraper"

Westfield and Brent Cross's Hammerson fight for Croydon

Link to Croydon Guardian

"Westfield is 'determined' to be present in Croydon, despite an announcement they had missed out on their bid to redevelop the Whitgift Centre.

"[Brent Cross's] Hammerson was announced as the development partner for the Whitgift Centre last Monday, amid anger from its freeholder, the Whitgift Foundation, which called the decision 'inexplicable'.

"... Michael Gutman, Managing Director for Westfield Europe and New Markets, said:

"Westfield remains determined to work with the owners and local authorities, to help create a town centre that the people of Croydon and surrounds can be truly proud of." [Whereas Hammerson ...]

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Link to Property Mall web site

"The Whitgift Centre provides approximately 580,000 square feet of retail floorspace comprising 154 shop units, department stores and a supermarket, and attracts around 28 million shoppers annually.

"In a joint statement, [lease-holders] RLAM and IBRCAC commented:

"The Whitgift Centre lies at the heart of Croydon and its successful redevelopment will be a crucial element in the regeneration of the town itself. This consideration underlined every step of our rigorous process of selecting the best partner for the job.

The quality of submissions from all parties was very high, although in Hammerson we recognised a partner who could demonstrate a long-term commitment to reasserting Croydon as a centre of retail excellence through a combination of redevelopment and organic growth. Of equal importance, Hammerson possess the necessary resources to complete a project of this scale successfully." [Whereas, at Brent Cross ...]

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Link to HOME (see all posts).

The Independent: "What do North Korea's buildings and landmarks tell us about [Barnet]?"

Link to The Independent
(A406, North Circular Road)

"Some of Thongil Street's residential blocks rise to 40 storeys, and each contains hundreds of housing units. Vast apartment blocks in the city centre, Meuser explains, 'are typical of communist cities'. [And like Barnet.] 

"Pyongyang is an interesting example of what happens to a city when there is no trade in real estate. Planning decisions are made, not by the market, but by party members who know little of urban design, and are guided solely by their ideology' [Yes! Like Barnet, then!]

Drapers: "Hit or Miss - Brent Cross"

Link to Drapers web site and free registration

"Although not the most outwardly charming of centres, for Drapers' seasonal Womenswear Hit or Miss, it was the quality of retailers being judged and not the centre’s aesthetic.

"Judging by what Drapers saw at Brent Cross ..., with the likes of Whistles, Topshop and Hobbs proving that even when not sitting in a shiny new shopping centre, the cream still rises to the top."

Planning: "Barnet shortlists two firms to take over planning work"

Link to web site and subscriptions

"A council document leaked on a local blog has revealed that Capita was scored highest of the bidding companies. The document said: 'Capita Symonds is the clear leader in this evaluation.'

"Trade union UNISON, which represents almost 90 per cent of the council's planning and regeneration staff, said its members were worried about the transfer to a private firm.

"Barnet UNISON branch secretary John Burgess said a survey by the union of the council's planners showed that 91 per cent are looking for jobs elsewhere."

Brent Cross Shopping Centre: "Easter Fun The Kids Will Love"

Saturday 7 & 

Monday 9 April:

11am – 1pm & 

2pm – 4pm

Children's make 'n' paint Easter activity workshops:

Children will have plenty of fun making and decorating Easter hats, masks and banners at our professionally-run workshops.

Children's petting farm:

Kids will love being up close with Belmont Farm's bunnies and little chicks, and are sure to have plenty of questions for the Farm's two experienced handlers.

*Activities subject to change without notice and available on a first come, first served basis. Parents must stay with their children at all times. Please do not pet animals if you have an allergy or may be pregnant. Please ensure that if you pet the animals you use the hand santitisers provided.

The Guardian: "Why the government sees Letchworth as a model community"

Link to The Guardian

"... His experience at Milton Keynes reinforces a belief that large-scale development proposals can deliver community facilities such as roads, schools, libraries and community centres without significant government funding. The so-called Milton Keynes tariff – dubbed a roof tax – involved builders putting cash into a community pot, initially calculated on the basis of £18,000 for each house completed:

"We created a whole investment vehicle able to put in infrastructure. It's still alive and a fantastic model, a brilliant way to get cash flowing into development and carrying the burden of some of these large infrastructure costs. We could say 'we know exactly what is being built, we can cost it, charge for it and guarantee the money is going to come back'. Basically you're giving certainty of development to the private sector. It meant we could put public money in, knowing it would come back."

Blackpool light-rail system reopens (thanks to supportive local authorities, and Minister Norman Baker!)

Link to 'Blackpool Gazette' web site and video

"After four years of work, Blackpool’s £100m new tramway is finally open for business. The first passenger journey from Starr Gate to Fleetwood saw VIPs and competition winners board one of the new Bombardier Flexity trams for today’s historic journey. 

Blackpool Transport managing director Trevor Roberts said:

"We are bringing in a new era for the tramway, but that is what was needed.

Without this investment, we would have been restricted to a shortened tramway for use as a tourist attraction only, but we now have the chance to build the economy of the Fylde with a proper public transport system."

Link to
BBC News.

Daily Telegraph: "Hammerson chosen over Westfield to redevelop Whitgift shopping centre"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"The choice of a partner other than Westfield promises a major row over the future of Croydon's Whitgift shopping centre, which is seen as one of the most lucrative retail development prospects in London.

"... Hammerson is already a key stakeholder in Croydon through its ownership of the Centrale Shopping Centre, they said, promising its participation would prove 'game-changing'."

ConservativeHome: "Is Milton Keynes beyond redemption?"

Link to ConservativeHome web site
(pic: lastrefuge)

"The Tory philosopher Roger Scruton has written A Plea for Beauty regarding urban planning policy.

"Scruton offers the following critique regarding Milton Keynes:

"When the layout of a town is conceived from a master plan, the possibilities for disaster are legion.

A telling example is the English new town of Milton Keynes, established in 1967 under a plan influenced by the centrifugal concept of the city developed in California by Melvin M. Webber. The resulting sprawl houses a population only two-thirds the size of Florence (a city you can walk across) spread over eighty-eight square miles of aesthetic pollution, absorbing and extinguishing villages, towns, and farms in a tangle of thruways and roundabouts, with the population trapped in little globules between the streams of fast-flowing automobiles."

MEN IN TIGHTS: Sir Michael Bear, Hammerson's 'Director of Regeneration', apologies for Unacceptable Behaviour in Brent Cross Planning Consultation

1st April:

The Guardian
and
Daily Telegraph

Hammerson's 'Director of Regeneration' is very sorry!

Finchley's Sir Michael Bear, who recently retired as Lord Mayor of London, and who was Hammerson's Director of Regeneration since 2003, apologised for his company's "arrogant behaviour, and unacceptable lack of ethics".

Before the Brent Cross Cricklewood planning application was submitted, Hammerson insisted it would investigate residents' suggestions, only if they gave a written undertaking they would not oppose its £4.5-billion, 20-year planning application.

"We are very sorry," he said.

"As Lord Mayor, Bear served in an ambassadorial role
not just for the Square Mile, but for the whole of the
UK-wide financial and professional services industry"

In response, Barnet Council said it wasn't bothered at the time, and it isn't bothered now.

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As imagined, this Sunday morning, by the Brent Cross Coalition.

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Link to

"Michael Bear, Regeneration Director at Hammerson (and new Lord Mayor of London) shuns Brent Cross's temporary 'rapid transit bus' for the Lord Mayor's Show 2010 [updated]"

(noteable, if only for the length of the title of the post)

Link to HOME (see all posts).

The missing east-west railway of outer north London...

Link to bueker.net web site

And the times it nearly happened... 

Link to read a bit more