I was mulling over the day my life changed forever at the weekend. I don't recall the day. I was four years old and it was just after Easter in 1967. It was the day I started at St Vincents Primary School and it was the day my education started. What was I taught? Well back then, we believed that the UK was the best country in the world. We had the best bands, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. We had the best Underground system. The big buzz then was about the Victoria Line, which was opening the following year. In Mill Hill, there was a lot of excitement and disruption as the M1 was being constructed. Huge concrete laying machines slowly made their way from Watford to Fiveways corner. The UK had it''s own Space program, with the Black Arrow and Blue Streak rockets. We were working with the French to develop Concorde, the supersonic airliner that would 'change the way we fly'.
Then there was our railways. These propelled the UK to lead the industrial revolution. Having the Midland Mainline Railway at the bottom of my garden, I witnessed the replacement of 'old fashioned' steam engines with more modern diesel ones. My Dad, being an engineer, was not at all sentimental and considered steam engines to be slow, old rustbuckets and loved the shiny new diesel ones. Dad ran a crash repair business called MacMetals and was a proper petrol head. Every time a fancy new motor, such as an E Type Jag, Aston Martin DB6 etc came in, he'd take me for a spin in it up to Watford, ingnoring all speed limits and often hurtling past police cars. I don't condone such behaviour, but it was real fun!
Within ten years, by the time I was ready to leave school, it had all gone wrong for Britain! Blue Streak and Black Arrow were cancelled. The Motor industry was mired in disputes and almost bankrupt. My Dad's high hopes that the M1 and other motorways would make the UK a pleasure to drive around disappeared and they all became car parks. Concorde only changed travel for a very rich few on a few select routes. It felt like the country was falling apart and that we'd given up. Britains railways summed up the malaise. The Japanese had high speed rail for nearly 20 years, on specially built lines. Here British Rail was struggling to keep the network running, with clapped out engines and Victorian infrastructure. Back then, British Rail did more than just 'run trains'. They ran ferries under the Sealink brand, they made their own sandwiches and had their own brand of Cafe called Travellers Fayre. Unlike modern station franchises, they were cheap and cheerful. They also designed and built their own trains under the British Rail Engineering label. This division was stuffed with some of Britains finest engineers. Starved of funds in the 1970's, they were tasked with modernising the Inter City network with no money. They had two solutions to try and bring us up to speed. The first was the strategic solution, known as the Advanced Passenger Train. It used the latest technology, tilting carriages, that meant trains could travel at high speed on existing tracks, it ran on electrified railways. The other was a stop gap. Originally called The High Speed Train (HST), it was a diesel engine, that used more conventional technology, but was leading edge. It was styled to look modern and it offered a quick route to faster journeys. As most of the network was not electrified, it was introduced on long distance mainline services, which were not electrified. Originally these were the East Coast Main Line between King Cross and Edinburgh and The Great Western Line between London and Bristol and Cardiff. The new trains knocked an hour off the time of a journey between Kings Cross and Edinburgh, with a maximum speed of 125 MPH.
A huge advertising campaign, rather unfortunately with Jimmy Savile at it's helm. The service was branded as Inter City 125 and was a great success. The modern styling and the shorter journey times were proved popular. British Rail sold the design to the Australians, who even had their own version. British Rail had plans to electrify the Intercity Network over the next 25 years, which was the expected life of the these new trains. By 1989, the East Coast line had been electrified and the trains were moved to the shorter Midland Mainline between London, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield. Sadly, due to lack of investment, initially, they were limited to a maximum of 100mph on this route, although sections were upgraded for faster running over the years.
These workhorses ruled the roost on the line until lockdown. For a long time, it looked like their days would be numbered as the government planned to electrify the line. Work was started and reached Kettering and Corby, before austerity derailed it. The then Minister of Transport decided that it wasn't value for money. This gave the HST's another lease of life, but eventually time caught up with them. The final scheduled service ran on 16th May 2021. The Barnet Eye was lucky enough to be invited to Cricklewood, by Robin Morel, the local Network Rail manager. We recorded this for posterity. It seemed like the days of the HST were numbered, apart from a few destined for museums.
However you can't keep a good design down. Some bright sparks came up with the idea of buying a few of the units to run charters. Others were procured to run services in Scotland, delivering quicker journeys to parts of the network that were in dire need of better services. Recently some have been exported to places such as Mexico and Nigeria. What was seen as a 'stop gap' is still stopping gaps in places that the BREL designers of the 1970's never dreamed of. I find such things fascinating.
A couple of weeks ago, Robin told me that an HST unit would be back at Cricklewood Rail Depot for a visit. It was running a charter on Saturday from St Pancras to Skegness and so would be being refuelled and stabled overnight in Cricklewood carriage sidings. Robin invited me down for a nose around, whilst it was being refuelled. As I have a bit of a fascination for industrial sites, it was an opportunity not to be missed. Seeing one of these amazing trains at close had was also a pleasure. It also gave me the chance to find out about other planned improvements on the Thameslink line. I asked about the West London Orbital Scheme (still in planning phase), the new freight superhub at Radlett (the line is being closed for nine days at Xmas to build a bridge for the new freight line) and the slowly progressing electrification in the north (new trains arriving soon for testing).
Since my last visit, the new station at Brent Cross West had been built. Robin seemed amused that the new station has twice the number of trains, for almost no passengers currently than Cricklewood, which is packed to bursting in the morning rush hour.
We all donned Hi Vis jackets and had a good old look at the things you never normally see.
Anyway, here are my pictures from the visit
This is the visitor. Painted in what I find to be a rather odd colour scheme, that looks as if it's been photoshopped into black and white!
It is great to see these grand old ladies of the British Rail network looking all nice and shiny with fresh paint.
Here is a more close up view from the front. As I mentioned above, I am not sure of the colours. It reminds me, and this will date me, of the old Airfix kits. Robin explained that this particular version of the HST has proper buffers. This means it can be used for other duties, such as delivering other trains etc, which apparently is a nice little sideline for Rail Adventures, who own them.
Another view of the train. In the distance you can see the crew that came down with the train. They started their journey in Butterley in Derbyshire. There is a heritage rail centre, where the coaches are kept when not working trips.
There are inspection points at the depot, to allow cleaners, etc access to the trains.
A nice view inside the cab.I wonder how many millions of miles has been observed from this view.
We also had a looka round the rest of the facility. The Luton Express service in the background is a broken down unit that is waiting a part from Germany. When this arrives, it has to be dragged to another depot, where they actually have ramps etc and a lift, to repair it. There are no such facilities in Cricklewood anymore.
"Fill her up Jacko!". Robin Morel of Network Rail explains the refulling process for the diesel locomotives etc at the depot.
After my previous visit, I wrote a tune for The False Dots about some of my experiences on our railways over the years and with some commentary on how it's all gone a bit Pete Tong with privatisation. I used some of my footage from my previous visit, as well as other clips I've taken over the years.
We are nearly there! Today we are back in Cricklewood for our tasty nugget!
This is a talk given at Cricklewood Library on 9th October 2008 by Malcolm Barres-Baker, of the Brent Museum. He gave the talk with slideshow about the history of Cricklewood illustrated with photos from the local archives. I find local museums and talks on local history fascinating. As a community it is vital we appreciate our surroundings and understand why they are as they are.
And here is some great footage from 1957 showing just how much things have changed!
With Xmas Eve tomorrow, our charity today is Gingerbread, a charity supporting lone parents in Barnet - http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/ - For many single parents on low incomes, Christmas is a difficult time. Gingerbread offer a special help service for single parents at XMAS. Their website says
However you celebrate Christmas and the holiday period, this time of
year brings lots of fun for you and your family. However, there may be
moments when you find the holiday period brings extra pressures and this
could be a difficult time for you. Here are our top tips for making the
most of your time and money over Christmas, including lots of ideas
sent to us by other single parents. Why not join our online forum at www.gingerbread.org.uk to share your ideas?
There is a list of useful organisations you can contact for advice and
support at the end of this factsheet, or you can call the Gingerbread
Single Parent Helpline on 0808 802 0925. Calls are free from landlines
and most mobiles.
Here we are at the 17th day of Advent. There is a saying that the Devil makes work for idle hands. We look at both sides of that coin today. Today the Barnet Eye Tardis takes us back to Cricklewood Railway Depot in 1969.
So you think things used to be so much better than they are today? It's a myth we all sometimes subscribe to. We say "The kids today are so much worse than we were". Well when you actually research the truth, it is not always so cut and dried.
Check out this video, filmed in Cricklewood Train depot in 1969
For many of us, football hooliganism was something predominantly of the mid 1970's but as you can see, it was alive and well in the swinging 60's. The video refers to the "Home secretary and British Rail wanting to do something about it". Well the problem of football special trains was comprehensively stopped by the Conservative government of the mid 1990's who abolished British Rail and with it football specials. I only ever once travelled on a Football Special. That was in 1975, with some friends who were Spurs fans, to watch them play my team, Manchester City at Maine Road. Spurs lost 5-1 and were relegated. The bar on the train was ransacked and missiles were thrown at unsuspecting passengers on the platforms as the train sped through. I was 13 at the time and found it all a bit scary. I doubt I'd let my 13 year old son go on such an excursion on his own today. How times have changed.
Of course, such acts have always been carried out by a tiny minority. We hear about the bad things they do, but we rarely hear of the good things and the hard work for the community carried out by many.
One organisation that does sterling work and we are only too keen to promote is TS Broadsword, based at the Welsh Harp, which offers young people the chance to experience many forms of naval an water based training - http://www.seacadet.org/index.html
Their website says
THE CORPS AND IT'S AIMS
The Sea Training Corps is a voluntary youth organisation for Boys and Girls. It aims to develop qualities of self-discipline and leadership, and provides a service to the community. We believe this is an important function in today's multicultural and multi-faith society, and that we are helping to develop good citizens for the future. Our organisation is run on Naval routines and traditions.
Broadsword is a Self Help/Self Financing Group, and has a long wish list needed for it to progress, expand, continue and to develop further in order to support the vitally important work it carries out voluntarily for Youth and the Community. To this end any Donation, however small or large, would be very gratefully received and formally acknowledged. Donors kind enough to donate for running costs will be sent a set of Professionally Audited signed Annual Accounts. Donors kind enough to donate for a specific project or items of equipment etc. will be sent receipts and invited to inspect any purchases. All donors will be welcome to visit T.S. Broadsword either officially or un-announced.
They are currently looking for volunteers and helpers, so if you are interested in helping CLICK HERE or you can check out their FACEBOOK page CLICK HERE
The Barnet Eye is a long term supporter of TS Broadsword, it's aims and its activities. If you have children who are interested in experiencing something more challenging than watching X Factor, I'd heartily recommend getting them to have a look at TS Broadsword.
This morning we are over half way through Advent to Xmas!
For today's gem, we visit Childs Hill (which if you are unfamiliar with the area is to the North Eastern side of Cricklewood, where Cricklewood station is located), the manor of our friend Anne Clarke. This is a not too serious, spiffingly good little video, put together by videomaker Molly Brown.
The Childs Hill and Cricklewood areas are blessed with a fantastic community spirit. And as we are in Childs Hill, it only seems polite to give the Town Team a plug. They have worked tirelessly to promote the area, conserve green spaces and make the place a vibrant community. So if you are a Childs Hill or anywhere else in Cricklewood resident, please checkout their website and consider becoming a member. Here is a little flavour from team member Marie. I think the Cricklewood community are a model for what all our town centres should have, a team of great residents working for their patch.
The larger Cricklewood area is quite an interesting place, three different London Boroughs have a chunk, Barnet, Brent and Camden. This means that not only does the Town team have the usual challenges, they have to contend with three large bureacracys rather than the single entity most of us are blessed with!
The Barnet Eye Advent Calendar is all about promoting our community and organisations such as Cricklewood Town Team is a fantastic example of what you can do if you are prepared to put hard work into your community.
Today we have a guest window for our charity, more of that later, but for our treat, we take a train down to Cricklewood.
Back in March 2020, I attended Cricklewood station for the unveiling of the amazing mural commemorating the aviation history of the area. I interviewed the artist who brought this wonderful mural to life and reviewed the original designs. Sadly, this story was swamped by the pandemic which exploded as this was being put together. The mural commemorates the Handley Page aircraft factory and airfield, which was based in Cricklewood. It seems remarkable that the first scheduled air service between London and Paris went from Cricklewood. Here is a map showing the site of the Handley Page operation courtesy of www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/Cricklewood
A nice photo of the area was posted by the rather wonderful @time_NW twitter account
John Laing's Golders Green Estate under construction in 1930. The land was the former Cricklewood Aerodrome of Handley Page, the aircraft makers, whose factory buildings can be seen at the base of the image.
And as an extra bonus, here is a film of a 1923 flight from Cricklewood to Paris!
For our charity, our great friend Dr Julia Hines has nominated Art Against Knives as her good cause for todays window.
.
This is a brilliant charity leading the fight in our community, educating young people that there are better things in life than violence and carrying knives.
Do you have a local gem and a local good cause that you'd like to see in a window? Why not drop us an email and let us know. The Barnet Eye is dedicating the Advent period to building community in our locality, so why not help by giving us your nominations? This has proven to be enormously popular this year, so why not add your window?
One of the things I most enjoy about writing this blog is the opportunity to document and record key moments in the life of our community and environment. I was quite honoured yesterday to get an invitation from Robin Morel of Network Rail to visit Cricklewood Railway depot to see the final visit of the iconic Inter City 125 trains working scheduled services to and from London. These iconic machines hold the world speed record for a diesel powered vehicle, having reached 148mph.
Robin was keen to see the moment recorded for posterity. East Midlands Railways, the operator, had given one of the engines a special lock of paint, with one engine being returned to its original BR livery and another having a brand new EMR design.
These units have thundered between St Pancras, Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham and Manchester (for a short period) since 1982. As my house backs onto the line, I’ll miss the distinctive roar of the engines. Robin sent me this information about the trains.
Robin also kindly said a few words about them. I tweeted this out yesterday and got a huge response. It is great to see so many people appreciate this icon of British Engineering .
Here are some videos, one of the final London bound service passing Cricklewood on its way to St Pancras
Here is the last Inter City 125, with its special paint job, arriving at Cricklewood.
services arriving for their rest before the final journey back from St Pancras to Leeds. The unit with the retro paint job is off to the National Raiwlay Museum. It would be nice to see them back occasionally on charter services, which I am sure will happen.
Here is the full album of photos from the day. Once again many thanks to Robin Morel, Network Rail and EMR. I will be posting a blog later in the week, detailing some of the other things we saw on the visit, including the soon to be demolished waste terminal and the works for the new Brent Cross West station.
This morning I made my way in the cold and rain from Mill Hill down to Cricklewood, for the unveiling of a mural at Cricklewood Station, recalling the Halcyon days of Handley Page and Cricklewood Aerodrome. GTR, the company that runs teh Thameslink service had provided a grant to the Town team and local artist Alistair Lambert was commissioned to pull the whole thing together. Although you may not have heard of Alisdair, if you know Cricklewood, you will have seen his work. He is responsible for the multicoloured cow and the big red Cricklewood sign by the station. The mural is the latest of his statement works and I was honoured to be invited to come down and make a film recording the unveiling for posterity. Due to the inclement weather and the noisy trains, commuters passing to get trains etc, the film was rather challenging, but I am rather pleased with it. As an added bonus, I was able to capture Alisdair talking to the local vicar, Roy Webster, explaining how the design and the artwork came together. If you have any interest in Cricklewood or aviation history, I think you will find the film interesting. We were also lucky to be joined by a member of the Handley Page association
The Barnet Eye is always pleased to report on important local event. Let us know if you have an important local event
When the name of "The London Borough of Barnet" is mentioned, many people think of leafy suburbs, mock tudor semi's and lush parks with au pairs walking the family Chihuahua. The mere name Barnet refers to a little town, traditionally part of Hertfordshire, bereft even of a London postcode, stuck on the extreme North Eastern corner of the Borough. At the diametrically opposite end of the Borough is Cricklewood, in the South East. The council ward is known as Childs Hill, which contributes to the fact that many don't even realise that Cricklewood is in the Borough.
Cricklewood is probably the most interesting area of the Borough historically. The arrival of the railways in the 1860 provided the impetus for a thriving manufacturing base. Bentley Motors, Handley Page aircraft, Staples furniture and a whole array of other manufacturers sprang up. Central to this was the railway. As a transport hub, it even boasted an airport in the 1920's, supporting Handley Page. The iconic Smith's Industries clock and precision instruments factory was also located in Cricklewood as were Smiths crisps.
The railway and these factories lead to a large Irish immigrant population, who frequented pubs such as The Crown and The Cricklewood Hotel and the iconic Galtymore nightclub. Many worked on the railways, as a huge depot, marshalling yards and freight sidings grew. Cricklewood is located on a junction between the Midland mainline, which served the Midlands and Scotland in the north and Southwards, St Pancras, Farringdon, Smithfield market and the south (via the Snow Hill tunnel and what is now known as The Thameslink route). A line, known as The Dudden Hill route heads westwards, providing a freight route to the western rail network and just down the line at West Hampstead to the South, there is another link to Barking, Tilbury and Southend.
The marshalling yards would receive freight trains from all of these locations and marshall them for despatch to destinations across the country. This all required a huge workforce. The railway ran on coal, which was brough down from the Midlands. Coal was king, it was the main source of heat in most homes. Cottages were built for the workers around the such places, known as Midland Cottages at most locations. These were small, unfussy homes designed for the convenience of workers, at a time when employers recognised the common sense of having workers living near their workplace.
Local industrial historian Mark Amies has a fascination with Cricklewood and recently appeared on The Robert Elms show detailing the lost factories. Mark also put several fascinating tweets on the subject on his timeline.
Cricklewood not only had a rich industrial history, it also has a great cultural heritage. In the 1920's and 30's it had its own film studio. Between 1979 and 2000 a new studio operated at The Production Village site. Most famously the film Breaking Glass was produced at the site.
But as we all know the sands of time move on. As London moved from coal to gas and electircity and rail moved to diesel and electric power, the sidings declined. As British Rail phased out wagonload freight, the marshalling yards disappeared. With the advent of the Thameslink route in the mid 1980's, even the maintenance depot disappeared and all that was left of the huge railway works disappeared. The Thameslink trains were now serviced at Selhurst, near Crystal Palace and the mainline Inter City 125 units were serviced in Leeds. All that remained was a few carriage sidings.
The factories closed, one by one, as the land values soared. In the 1970's the adjacent Brent Cross site, formerly home of Hendon dog track became Brent Cross shopping Centre. This was the UK's first big "out of town" shopping centre. Despite being only a mile from Cricklewood, it was extremely difficult to get from Cricklewood Broadway to the centre. The railway and the North Circular made it one a very difficult walk and a rather arduous drive for such ashort difference.
The GLC decided that Cricklewood was the ideal place to send all of Londons rubbish to. Ken Livingstone's GLC built a huge waste transfer plant. Dustcarts from across London arrived to have the rubbish loaded into containers for shipment to Sandy in Bedfordshire for burial in pits excavated to produce bricks. Skip hire and reclaimation firm Donoghues also moved in, making Cricklewood the waste capital of London. The waste trains were noted for their pong, especially in summer. If you were unlucky enough to be on the platform at Mill Hill when one passed, you were in for a gut wrenching experience. Seasoned commuters avoided the trains that exposed you to this.
Fortunately for Mill Hill, London produces so much waste that these pits were filld. A new dump was found, and the trains now are taken down to West Hampstead, and then sent down the Dudden Hill route to a site elsewhere. Apparently the residents of the luxury flats next to the railway are none too impressed. Having a pongy train full of rubbish next to your house for an hourm whilst the engine changes ends of the train is no fun.
Cricklewood is blessed to have an amazing community spirit. The Cricklewood Town team have worked tirelessly to make the best of what the town has to offer. I know them well. My company helps them with musical arrangements for the numerous events they stage at the Cricklewood village green (a large sloped grassy area, next to B&Q). Town fairs are held and music and childrens entertainers are laid on in the summer. The station has been decorated and is perhaps the most interesting of all stations on the Thameslink route. These tweets give a flavour of how the community has come together.
Best of luck to Cricklewood Town Team members @anne_clarke and @ClaytonCrabtree in the local election tomorrow. Different parties, different boroughs but dedicated friends of Cricklewood, the station and our green space. pic.twitter.com/uVYVDIJOir
But there are huge changes being planned for Cricklewood. I like to think of the local railway station as the heart of Cricklewood, and the rail lines as the arteries, bringing in the lifeblood. But Cricklewood is about to have a heart bypass. A brand new station is being built and the preparatory work has already started. Cricklewood station, due to its layout, cannot accomodate the 12 carriage trains which now operate on the Thameslink route. A huge scheme to regenerate the 1970s shopping centre at Brent Cross and build approx 30,000 new dwellings has been prepared. To facilitate all of this a new station is being built half a mile up the railway line. The whole scheme will be the largest building site in Western Europe if and when if comes to fruition. What is not in doubt though, is that the new railway station will be built.
Infrastructure projects such as this fascinate me. I was delighted when Robin Morel of Network Rail offered me a tour of the carriage sidings and an explanation of how the new station would affect the railway. I hadn't appreciated the scale, size and timescales of this. I asked Mark Amies to join me. We made a video with Robin to explain just how major these changes are. What is clear is that the impact on the area will be huge. Robin is one of the good guys, a life long rail man, who worked for British Rail, Railtrack and Network Rail. He has a huge passion for his job and his enthusiasm for the railway is infectious. He is also highly knowledgable.
There were many things that Robin told us that were of interest to anyone who lives near the site. The Waste Transfer station is closing. This will mean no more smelly trains annoying the residents of West Hampstead. Apparently, with recycling, there is not enough waste to fill a train, so it will now be moved by road. An aggregates depot for the Brent Cross development will open on the other side of the tracks this year. This has been delayed as DB Rail forgot to apply for planning permission and there was not enough noise and dust suppression planned.
There is also a freight siding operating, removing spoil from local developments. This will go. The whole railway will need to be closed to build the new station, as tracks are moved eastward to accommodate the platforms. The carriage sidings and old shed at the north end of the complex will go completely.
Robin also explained that the proposed West London Orbital Route will not be stopping at the station and will have its own station. It has proven impossible to integrate this into the current scheme. Robin explained that there are currently low speed freight lines that run from West Hampstead to north of Hendon station. These don't have overhead wires, so cannot be used by Thameslink trains. There is a proposal to electrify these and increase the linespeed to 100 MPH. This will massively increase the capacity for passenger trains through this section. In short, the whole area is in for a massive change. Robin assured us that there is no proposal to close Hendon or Cricklewood station, but it is clear that the new station will get a vastly superior service.
Robin also explained how a massive bridge across the rail lines from Cricklewood Broadway to the Railway terraces had been descoped. It had been part of Boris's master plan. Clearly, if the Brent Cross scheme is ever built, the station will become a vital hub. With the West London Orbital route opening, it will be an important interchange for passegers wishing to access West London from the Borough, if the conundrum of platform layouts can be resolved.
The bottom line for anyone concerned with the environment, rail is the greenest, safest option for urban travel. The work and dedication of people like Robin make it happen. Robin invited us back in two years to see how it has all panned out.
The Barnet Eye will be returning to Cricklewood for this series, to focus on the social history for our next instalment in this series. The final part will be a return with Mark, to have a look at the non rail industrial heritage. Our view is that the Environment should be harnessed to make the lives of the people who live in it as good as possible. This means lowering pollution, giving people healthy options and building communities. We believe that the Cricklewood has the best community spirit in the Borough, and it is essential that we all support them. It is amazing that Network Rail are happy to be open and transparent about their plans. I asked Robin if he wanted to see the film before I published it, but he said "No, there are no secrets". That is how public bodies should be.
As with many things in Barnet Council, the devil is in the detail. You have to read reports and responses very carefully to get to the bottom of what the council are planning and how they view the future of our Borough and our environment.
At present there is a plan for an absolutely humungous development in Brent Cross. This will see a massive increase in density of housing on the site. It will see more shops and more traffic. As with all developments, these create problems, but they also present opportunities. Developers can be compelled to improve transport as part of any plan and a massive plan such as Brent Cross there is the chance for a big improvement through Section 105 payment.
Anyone who has the misfortune to travel by car near Brent Cross on the A41 or the A406 at rush hour near Brent Cross will attest to just how congested this is. Local residents and campaigners have long been suggesting that Barnet and Brent Cross and would benefit greatly from a light rail system. There have been many proposals, not least The Brent Cross Light rail scheme. There have been other proposals for more modest rapid transport schemes, linking the shopping centre with the Tube and BR stations. Sadly the council doesn't seem interested. This was raised at a recent council meeting by Labour Member Geof Cooke. Sadly, it appears that the Tory administration didn't even seem capable of understanding the question. Page 7 of the latest copy of the minutes of the Assets, Regeneration and Growth Committee shows that a perfectly reasonable and sensible question got a complete non answer.
"Councillor
Cooke
asked
whether
a transport
route
is being
safeguarded
for
a potential
rapid
transport
system
and
what
the
projection
is for
shoppers
by car
in 2021.
The
response
was
that
modal
shift
will
change
constantly
over
time
and
people
will
begin
to
change
the
way
they
plan
their
journeys
in response
to
Brent
Cross
developments
for
example
in line
with
new
work
and
leisure
patterns."
Translated into English, this roughly means "We haven't a clue how people will be travelling to and from Brent Cross and so we have decided to bury our head in the sand.
For the record, here is a list of the members present. Members
Present:-
Councillor
Daniel
Thomas
(Chairman),
Councillor
Gabriel
Rozenberg
(Vice-Chairman),
Councillor
Richard
Cornelius,
Councillor
Philip
Cohen,
Councillor
Geof
Cooke,
Councillor
Rohit,
Councillor
Nagus
Narenthira, Councillor
Peter
Zinkin.
2.19
T he
Council
submitted
the
Full
Regeneration
Business
Case
to
HM
Government
on
22
January
2016.
The
Business
Case
was
reviewed
by
the
Department
of Communities
and
Local
Government
Finance
Sub-Committee
on
25
February
2016,
following
which
the
Chancellor
again
reconfirmed
the
funding
commitment
in
the
Budget
Statement
on
16
March
2016,
which
confirmed
that
“
The
government
has
approved
the
full
business
case
for
a
new
Thameslink
station
at
Brent
Cross
Cricklewood,
unlocking
7,500
new
homes.
This
follows
the
Government’s
previous
commitment
to
provide
£97
million
of
grant
funding
and
ringfence
the
local share
of
business rates
”.
Not only that, have a look at the commercial aspects of the site.
3.7
The
Council’s
purpose
in
seeking
to acquire
the
land
and
new
rights
shown
on
the
CPO
Plans
is
to
facilitate
the
development,
re-development
and
improvement
of the
land
by
way
of
a
mixed
use
scheme,
comprising
commercial,
retail,
residential,
hotel,
conference
and
leisure
development;
community
facilities;
car
parking,
infrastructure
and
highway
works;
new
rail
station,
station
buildings,
railway
sidings,
rail
stabling
facilities
and
associated
rail
infrastructure;
rail
freight
facilities;
a waste
transfer
facility;
public
realm
and
environmental
improvement
works
(“the
CPO3
Development”).
We will have all the traffic for commercial, retail, hotels, conference centres. Strangely the council makes no mention of the aspect of the proposed Brent Cross Light Rail scheme, which would link the site to Heathrow, using existing lightly used freight only rail lines via Dudden Hill. It would seem to me that a huge opportunity is being missed, as surely patrons of Hotels and Conference centres, would find a direct link highly attractive. Much mention is made of the convenience of St Pancras, but none of relief of the crowded East-West flows.
There is also plans for "rail freight facilities". In other words a depot, where goods are transferred between large lorries and trains. They are also planning a new "waste transfer station". This is where the refuse collections are transferred to rail containers to be dumped into landfills. There is an existing facility at Cricklewood currently. It would make sense to beef this up significantly, given the issues elsewhere in the Borough with the site for a waste depot. Whilst I am very supportive of transferring traffic from road to rail, it seems to me to be a massive folly to do this in a traffic hotspot, as part of a plan to add even more traffic.
In section 6.2 Barnet Council make it clear that the already congested A5 is seen as the key transport route for the 7,500 new households. As someone who avoids the A5 like the plague due to the congestion, I am quite nonplussed by this report. One has to wonder whether Councillors Thomas, Cornelius and Rozenburg ever venture over from their leafy residences elsewhere in the Borough.
BXC
is one
of
Barnet’s
priority
regeneration
areas,
and
will
provide
approximately
7,500
new
homes
over
the
next
20
years.
It is a key
part
of
the
wider
revitalisation
of
the
A5
corridor,
linking
BXC
with
developments
at West
Hendon,
Colindale
and
Edgware
and
improvements
to Cricklewood
Town
Centre,
to
create
a series
of
high
quality
modern
suburbs.
I did a search on this report for the word "congestion" to see what thought had been given to the issue. To my amazement, there was not a single occurrance of the word in the report.
In summary, our Conservative Council administration is burying its collective head in the sand. They are planning an absolute monster of a scheme and the only significant public transport improvement is to relocate a station on one of the busiest railways in the country. Another aspect of the scheme which hasn't been mentioned is the knock on effect on Hendon and the existing Cricklewood stations. There is a significant risk that one or both station will close to facilitate the new station. Neither of these stations has been upgraded to accomodate the new 12 carriage trains. There is also the possibility of a lower frequency of service to Mill Hill Broadway. Thameslink semi fast services will need to sacrifice a stop to preserve journey times and many have suggested that Mill Hill is the "logical victim" of such a cut. It seems possible that commuters from three different existing and popular stations will suffer to keep the Brent Cross developers happy. All in all the whole scheme seems like a horribly wasted opportunity. I suspect that in 50 years, the next generation will be completely nonplussed by the stupidty of the council allowing the Borough to be wecked in this way.
I seriously wonder if our councillors, who get a minimum of £10K of taxpayers money ever bother to read these reports. If they do, we can only wonder what induces them to take so little account of the existing residents and the future generations, who will be well and truly lumbered.
I was intrigued to see a post on Matthew Offord MP's website detailing how he opened a "world class rail facility" at Cricklwood yesterday. Matthew's site says
Monday, 25 January, 2016
A disused piece of railway land in Cricklewood has been turned into a
first-class railway facility that will play a crucial part in what will
be one of the country’s busiest main line train services - the
Thameslink route.
The new depot - part of the Government-sponsored £6.5 billion
Thameslink Programme - includes a new drive-through train wash, toilet
emptying facilities and walkways for staff to remove rubbish from
trains. It is already cleaning trains on the Thameslink route and
will be used by Thameslink’s new Class 700 trains when they are
introduced this spring. The sidings are a crucial part of Thameslink's
plans to modernise services to give passengers new, spacious trains and,
from 2018, more frequent services at all stations between Bedford and
London.
Opening the new sidings, Matthew said:“I am delighted that the Government’s investment in the Thameslink
Programme is contributing to this new facility at Cricklewood. As a user
of the Thameslink line, I am well aware that the overcrowding and
delays on the current service are not acceptable. When completed,
this Programme will provide a much-needed modern and efficient train
service for all users of the Thameslink line including my constituents
in Edgware, Hendon and Mill Hill. These new state-of-art facilities will
enable trains to visit around the clock which will make a real
difference to the service."
Cricklewood Depot in 1975
I was rather intrigued by the spin put on this rather modest upgrade to some stabling sidings. In the 1970's Cricklewood was a major maintenance depot for the Midland Mainline route of British Railways. Inter city trains, freight locomotives and local commuter trains were maintained at a large depot on the site. There was also an extensive marshalling yard for freight adjacent to the site. The GLC also built a rail waste transfer station on the site in the early 1980's under Ken Livingstones regime.
In the late 1980's three things happened that saw the demise of this facility. Firstly the Midland mainline saw the introduction of HST services, replacing the old locomotive drawn trains. The maintenance of these was transferred to a new depot in Yorkshire. The second was the demise of coal trains to power stations in Thatchers move to gas and nuclear power. The third was the opening of the Thameslink service, with maintenance of trains transferred to Selhurst. Within a few years Cricklewood Depot, although relatively modern was closed, derelict and was demolished in the early 1990s.
Matthew Offord opens new Crickewood Depot
As the Thameslink service has grown ever more popular and more trains have been added, there has been a requirement for more stabling facilities. These are simply sidings where trains are cleaned and have the toilets emptied between journeys and trains are parked when not in use. The new facilities at Cricklewood are one of a number of such facilities refurbished for the Thameslink upgrade. The main train depot, where servicing and engineering will be undertaken will be in Hornsey, not Cricklewood. Unlike the former depot, there is no shed or inspection pits for engineers. In effect, the "state of the art depot" Offord refers to is a giant car park for trains, where bogs are emptied and carriages cleaned.
In truth, his constituency has missed out again on jobs and investment. Whilst Hornsey will get a real state of the art depot, providing skilled jobs for engineers and technicians, Cricklewood will get a few jobs for cleaners and people emptying toilets. Matthew Offord has always seemed a rather semi detached MP, with little interest in the commuters who make up a large proportion of his constituency. In his article, he talks of commuters in "Edgware, Hendon and Mill Hill" using the service. This is a truly odd choice of words. Firstly Edgware doesn't have a Thameslink station, being served by The Northern Line. He says "These new state-of-art facilities will
enable trains to visit around the clock which will make a real
difference to the service." This is a truly odd thing to say about some train stabling sidings. They are designed to park trains outside of peak hours when they are not in use. I suspect Mr Offord has simply been given some publicity material by the Thameslink operator and regurgitated it without bothering to ask any questions.
Offord states that he is "well aware that the overcrowding and
delays on the current service are not acceptable." Despite being well aware, there is no mention of any action to resolve any of the issues faced by commuters. Today the Barnet Eye published a guest blog by Richard Logue calling for Govia to be sacked as operator and for TFL to take over immediately. Richard said "How many times have you stood on a Monday morning at Mill
Hill Broadway only to be told your trains are cancelled while fast trains from
St Albans and Bedford whizz past on the fast lines? These trains could stop at
Mill Hill. We have 12-car capable platforms that could accommodate the longer
and newer trains that First Group and now GTR don't allow to stop at Mill Hill." This simple change of policy by Govia would make a huge impact on the almost daily delays experienced by Mill Hill Commuters. Govia claim that DofT rules prevent this from happening. This is why we need a proactive MP to get stuck in. Offord has been MP for five years and in this period we've seen no improvements, only deterioration. There are rumours that following continual lobbying by our GLA representative Andrew Dismore, there will be step free access at Mill Hill announced shortly. I suppose Mr Offord will be invited to open this as well as he clearly has a very cosy relationship with the train operators.
I find the current culture of political spin disgusting. This attempt to portray the refurbishment of a few stabling sidings as a major new depot to be ridiculous and Mr Offord should be ashamed of himself for going along with it. Mill Hill Commuters have got a raw deal from Thameslink. We lost a major centre of excellence in the 1980's when Cricklewood depot was closed down and in truth all that is left is a few sidings and a few cleaning facilities. Of course it is good that a few jobs will be created, but please spare us this spin and tell is the truth.
28th October 2010. This could be the day when the London Borough of Barnet as we know it changed forever. The huge Brent Cross/ Cricklewood redevelopment was signed off today. This will mean a huge increase in the number of cars on the road, with no discernable improvements to public transport. Bestways are threatening to take the decision to judicial review. If it ever gets built, we'll have a waste incinerator on the doorstep.
As far as I can see the battle to build the project has been between big business on the one hand and local people on the other. Sadly it seems our local Conservative Council came down on the side of big business. A sad day for the London Borough of Barnet
I attach a letter with a series of questions relating to the Brent Cross development that are a matter of concern to residents and I suggest should be of concern to Councillors also. Please consider the questions carefully and refer the item back for answers to be provided.
----------------------------
Federation of Residents Associations in Barnet
Chair: David Howard
19th September 2010
Open letter to all councillors on Barnet Planning and Environment Committee
Dear Councillor,
Brent Cross and Cricklewood Application number C/17559/08
You have been given one more chance at the PEC on Monday night for sanity to prevail and to prevent the council incurring large sums in defending an expensive Judicial Review, then paying out costs to the winning plaintiff,.
There are a number of questions that need satisfactory answers:-
a. Is there a need for another new town and extended retail centre?
b. Why has the council relied on the developers assessment of the need for more retail space?
c. Why has the council not carried out its own assessment in light of the large new Westfields development at White City and the imminent opening of Europe’s largest shopping mall by Westfields at Stratford?
d. Why has the council not had regard to the change in shopping patterns eg the rapid growth of internet shopping?
e. Why has the council not considered the impact of a new town centre and extended retail mall at Brent Cross on the other 22 town centres in Barnet plus others further afield?
f. Why is the council ignoring the impact of 29,000 extra cars a day coming to the site?
g. What evidence do the officers have that leads them to believe that 70% of all current Brent Cross users plus 70% of all future users will leave their cars at home and travel to the centre by bus?
h. Do you as Councillors with knowledge of your electorate honestly believe this will happen?
i. Do you believe that the Edgware branch of the Northern line will be able to cope with tens of 000s of shoppers for Brent Cross, 20,000 occupiers of the new hutches for hobbits at Brent Cross, 30,000 new residents at Colindale plus c 20,000 for other new residents up the rest of the Northern Line every day?
j. Why are the officers refusing to safeguard the route for a possible future light rail/rapid transit system?
k. Why has the Council ignored the opposition in writing to the proposals from the neighbouring Borough of Brent?
l. Why have the officers misled the Councillors in respect of recent changes in National and Regional Planning policies?
m. Are you aware that only phase one with the retail mall extension, the rubbish dump and a few flats are guaranteed to be built if permission is granted?
n. Are Councillors aware that the developer can build the most profitable first phase and then use the flexibility they persuaded the officers to build into the legal agreement to walk away from the remaining phases?
o. Are Councillors happy to proceed with a £4.5billion scheme on the basis of a deal with a shell company eg no assets or parent company guarantees?
p. Have the councillors seen the evidence that “the air leaving the 140 metre high chimney will be cleaner than the air entering the plant” as stated by Cllr Freer last year?
q. Have the developers been given examples of successful pollution free heat from waste plants as promised by the developers last year? We have only been able to find examples of the new technology failing in the UK, Germany, Austria, Norway, America and Australia. Is that why the developers are keeping quiet?
r. There are many more unanswered questions but the above give an idea of why we are concerned
There are too many major unanswered questions to allow this scheme to proceed in its present form.
The need by the Officers to get some cash into the Councils coffers quickly has obscured the longer term best interests of the residents of Barnet and the wider community of North London.
This is your last chance to reach the right decision as Councillors. If you fail the Courts will take over and we will not only lose the projected income but also incur large legal bills.
We urge you to refer back the scheme tonight for a full review of the above issues.
Yours sincerely,
David Howard
Chair of FORAB
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Howard is the Chair of Forab and an occasional contributor to the Barnet Eye. All relevent guest blogs and open letters are welcome for publication without comment or editing. In this case, I have removed Davids address and phone number from the letter.
Tonight Councillor Maureen Braun's planning committee is again discussing the Brent Cross redevelopment. This hugely unpopular scheme is yet again under the spotlight and the BBC have threatened to turn up to interview protestors outside the meeting.
What's this all got to do with Lynne Hillan and her troughing? Well sadly quite a lot. Hillans leadership has created a climate where no one trusts our local politicians and everyone believes they are on the take. When Maureen Braun and her chums discuss the proposal, no one actually believes that they give a monkeys about the local residents. This sour bunch voted themselves huge rises, whilst urging everyone else to show restraint. Have the developers and our local councillors got, shall we say, a "too cosy relationship"? Who knows, ,but given how they've shown where their priorities lie, how can anyone trust them?
You may recall Lynne Hillan spoke up at a previous planning meeting for the scheme, something leaders don't usually do. Sadly Lynne is the last person to sell a scheme as in the interests of the Barnet public. She is damaged goods
Just a quick roundup of the campaign to strip First Capital Connect, Britains worst train operator of the Thameslink franchise. The Observer picked up the story yesterday - CLICK HERE TO READ - interesting to read the FCC saying that they are a great company because the Great Northern route hasn't deteriorated to the same level as the Thameslink Route just yet.
There is a press release from First saying they've now got all of the trains they ordered - CLICK HERE TO READ - in this press release they say that as they now have a full compliment of trains, they have no excuse to run short formations. I thought I'd check the First Capital Connect journey check site to see how they were doing this morning. Guess what
07:30 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 09:12
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to an operating incident.
Message Received: 06:00:54 25/01/2010
The uprising continues to grow. The current number of signatures is 4,384. I predict that this will rise to 5,000 by the end of the week. Here's a video showing what many of us suffer on a near daily basis. This is a train at Cricklewood. This scene is repeated on a daily basis up and down the line.
I guess Lord Adonis doesn't see this much in his ministerial limo.
***** Update at 18:00 ************
So much for the extra carriages ending the days of short trains. Just spotted this on the Mill Hill Journey check board
17:38 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 19:12
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.
Message Received: 11:23:30 25/01/2010
18:44 Luton to Sevenoaks due 20:43
This train will be formed of 8 coaches instead of 4.
This is due to an earlier train fault.
Message Received: 17:50:18 25/01/2010
21:20 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 23:05
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.
A couple of weeks ago, Robin told me that an HST unit would be back at Cricklewood Rail Depot for a visit. It was running a charter on Saturday from St Pancras to Skegness and so would be being refuelled and stabled overnight in Cricklewood carriage sidings. Robin invited me down for a nose around, whilst it was being refuelled. As I have a bit of a fascination for industrial sites, it was an opportunity not to be missed. Seeing one of these amazing trains at close had was also a pleasure. It also gave me the chance to find out about other planned improvements on the Thameslink line. I asked about the West London Orbital Scheme (still in planning phase), the new freight superhub at Radlett (the line is being closed for nine days at Xmas to build a bridge for the new freight line) and the slowly progressing electrification in the north (new trains arriving soon for testing). 
