There we have it in full colour: a future for the western side of our borough involving various New Labour buzzwords such as "Sustainable Community", "Street Hierarchy", "Rapid Transit Systems" and other meaningless tosh designed to provide us with thousands of high-density homes for an ever-expanding population.
Call me old-fashioned, but I like our borough, with its rows of semi-detached houses and gardens and green spaces. I am the first to argue that we need to rip down the dreadful 1960s estates in which some of our council tenants live, but I fail to see the logic of replacing one failing flat-roofed estate with another higher density one.
The current proposals for the Stonegrove estate in Edgware, for example, completely fail to take account of the current environment on the edge of the green belt.
The proposals for West Hendon, including a 24-storey tower block, are inappropriate for the edge of the Welsh Harp, one of only two sites of special scientific interest in the borough, the other being Hampstead Heath. I suppose we should be grateful no greedy developer is suggesting we need social housing in Hampstead Garden Suburb.
Which brings me to Cricklewood. This, we are told, is the largest brownfield site in Greater London. When I was elected to the GLA I was told that development work on King's Cross would begin within months: well, it is four years later and nothing much has happened. The lesson to me is clear: allow development as the market dictates in manageable parcels, acceptable to the local community.
Before anyone tells me that you end up with no infra-structure, then point me to the new roads, improvements in public transport, leisure facilities and education in the document that landed on my front door mat.
Are we seriously suggesting we can accommodate 11, 000 extra residential units and 33, 000 extra vehicles between now and 2016 on the minimal infrastructure improvements proposed?
The real villain behind all this is Ken Livingstone, whose draft Spatial Development Strategy for London puts pressure on the boroughs to accommodate a projected increase in London's population which few experts believe will happen.
He talks of "landmark buildings" and indeed one of more than 40 storeys is proposed for Cricklewood. If you want to see a landmark building in this borough, visit North Finchley and see the monstrosity Labour foisted onto an unwilling community.
I have seen the future - and it is urban hell Let us all commit ourselves to preserving a greener Barnet in 2004 and send over ambitious developers packing.
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Brian Coleman is the Mayor of Barnet and GLA member for Barnet & Camden. This article was originally printed in "The Press" on January 8th 2004. Thanks to the NODIE archive for the story and Dont Call Me Dave for the Tip off and most of all, thanks to Brian Coleman for his words of wisdom about overdevelopment in Barnet.
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Editors Note : The Barnet Conservative administration, of which Brian Coleman is a key member passed the Brent Cross redevelopment plan last week.
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