Brent Cross Cricklewood Regeneration Scheme

Over the next 20 or so years it is planned that a large area of land south of the current Brent Cross shopping centre will be subject to a massive redevelopment scheme including retail, office and residential developments. This land is in the London Borough of Barnet, and they are the planning authority. However, Brent has a long border with the site along the A5, and it will affect Brent residents greatly. Included in the current plans are major new road schemes and a new station on the Thameslink Line. The development will change the face of NW London.

This is mostly of interest to Brent Cyclists because this whole area is currently a huge barrier to cycling. Desirable cycle routes from Brent eastwards and southwards are made very difficult by the severance caused by the North Circular Road, the M1, the Thameslink/Midland railway line, and the A41. It is likely that there will be little change in this environment without the privately-funded redevelopment of this area.

The Brent Cross area is currently very difficult for cycling owing to the barriers such as the North Circular Road

Brent Cyclists are not opposed to the redevelopment of the Brent Cross Crickelwood (BXC) area in principle, but we are opposed to the current plans which are highly car-centric, do not cater well for cycling and walking, and include insufficient serious public transport infrastructure. Though the developers claim to be supportive of cycling, their plans show little understanding of the needs of cyclists, and they are trying to fit cycling and walking infrastructure around a basic plan which seems to be a throwback to US-influenced 1960/70s motor-dominated urban concept that is entirely inappropriate to the future development of London in the age of global warming.

Brent cyclists have been talking to the developers of BXC, Barnet Council, Brent Council, and Transport for London on this subject, together with Barnet Cyclists. We have been instrumental in getting Brent Council to officially oppose the development. Camden Council and Harrow Council are also opposed. We are also part of the Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Redevelopment, a grouping of voluntary groups across Brent and Barnet opposed to the current BXC plans.

Opposition to BXC in the local community centres mainly around the extra traffic it is likely to generate on Brent's roads, the poor public transport provision (see the Campaign for Better Transport's site for an alternative plan involving orbital light rail for NW London), the poor consultation with Brent residents, and the prospect of a new waste facility on the A5.

Brent (and Barnet) Cyclists principal problems with the details of the current plans are the following:

1. The A5 will be severed at ground level at Staples Corner West by a huge new combined motorway-style intersection uniting the current Staples Corner West and East junctions including the entrance to the M1. Cyclists will no longer be able to cycle from north to south along the A5 at ground level, but will be forced either to use the highly-dangerous A5 flyover, or go round this circuitous new "motorway" intersection, or use a circuitous and up-and-down shared cycle-pedestrian route. Cyclists will be able to follow the A5 northwards at ground level, but will have to compete with a new left-turning lane leading to the North Circular with a high design speed.

   

   Currently cyclists have the option of going through Staples Corner West using this slip road and the roundabout. Under the plans, commuting cyclists will be forced to use the flyover
    

2. A segregated cycle track is planned over a rebuilt Tempelhof Avenue bridge to take cyclists between the north and south parts of the development on opposite sides of the North Circular, but this will be difficult to use, short, and ineffective, integrated poorly with other routes on roads and paths.
    
3. The same goes for new cycle tracks or paths planned alongside a new bridge across the railway linking the south (Cricklewood) part of the development to the A5
    
4. A planned shared cycle and pedestrian route along the River Brent will be of little use: it goes nowhere at the eastern end, merely meeting the concrete wall of the A5 flyover.
    
5. Cycle access to the planned new station appears poor
    
6. New pedestrian crossings across the railway, the North Circular, and the A41, are planned not to accommodate cycling.

   

   Brent Cross Cricklewood planners want to create more pedestrian bridges like this which do not allow cycling
    

7. North-south and east-west cycle routes through the development area will be indirect and poorly linked to the London Cycle Network. Southwards, routes use Claremont road, which is a poor cycling environment, and is likely to be made worse by the development. Northwards, they fail to go anywhere due to the one-way system around West Hendon. Eastwards, the link to Brent Cross Underground Station is poor.
    
8. The planned waste facility on the A5 will create hazardous heavy vehicle movements across the path of cyclists on the A5

Letter to John Denham, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Govenment calling for a public enquiry into Brent Cross Cricklewood

Update: 18 March 2010

According to the Ham&High, "John Denham has issued a stop notice on the scheme, giving him more time to decide whether to call for a public enquiry"