“The Mayor needs to ask whether the extra road capacity, with all the accompanying growth in pollution and also congestion elsewhere on the road network, is now needed” says Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson, who expresses concern on how this will affect the environment and how future maintenance of the structure will work.
Plans to expand the road network to cope with up to 4,300 extra vehicles in peak hours because of the development of Brent Cross should be put on hold, according to Darren Johnson. A new railway station has been announced in the budget and the confirms the high public transport accessibility rating for the development. Restrictions on parking are seen as the main way to put a brake on traffic increases by the Brent Cross planners.
Inside the Brent Cross Shopping Centre, photograph courtesy of Billy Hicks.
The existing financial authority for the scheme is £286m, with Transport for London spending an initial £39m to work up the details of the road expansion and the building of a pedestrian bridge. The developer is committed to funding all the necessary works and TfL is handing over the building of the transport plans to them. Darren and some TfL Board members have asked questions about the ownership and maintenance of the new infrastructure, such as the living bridge.
Darren Johnson AM commented:
”There are two reasons why the Mayor needs to urgently review the transport plans for the Brent Cross shopping centre, as his approach seems both damaging for the environment and full of risks. Things have clearly moved forward because of the budget and the new railway station will obviously give people extra choice in getting to the shops. The Mayor needs to ask whether the extra road capacity, with all the accompanying growth in pollution and also congestion elsewhere on the road network, is now needed.”
“There are clear dangers in allowing a commercial developer to be in charge of the building works on major roads like the North Circular and the M1. It appears from the TfL Board papers that key questions about the ownership and future maintenance of the new infrastructure have not been sorted out. TfL could be letting themselves into a contractual nightmare by allowing the developer to take the lead.”