[Reposted - well, Brian's so popular] Daily Telegraph: "£100,000 pay-offs for council chiefs"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"Ministers [have] told local authorities to end the culture of 'eye-watering' compensation packages of up to £420,000 to former bosses.

"Brandon Lewis, the local government minister, accused the councils of showing a 'lack of respect' to taxpayers after figures compiled by this newspaper showed that scores of executives received six-figure sums on top of their salaries and pension contributions when they left their posts.

"... Barnet borough council, in north London, has paid almost £1 million to six executives over the past two years.

"Brian Reynolds, the former director of environment and development, received a £280,485 pay-off, on top of his £107,000 salary and pension payments. He has since formed Brian Reynolds Associates, a consultancy, and runs the Local Government Association’s 'productivity programme' to help make councils more efficient.

"A spokesman for Barnet said that it had saved £1.5 million by reducing its management team, but that it had to 'honour contracts'."

---

# You're A Pink Toothbrush, #
# I'm A Blue Toothbrush, ... #
(Sing along with Brian)

"Brian Reynolds Associates"

"Brian Reynolds has 10 years’ experience at the top level in local government. He was the Deputy Chief Executive of the London Borough of Barnet from 2000 to 2010, where he was responsible for regeneration, housing, planning, environment and adult social care. Brian was also part of the team that led the Council to the top Comprehensive Performance Assessment score in 2007/8.

"... At L B Barnet, Brian set up and led their housing estate regeneration programme in 2000. ... Despite the recession, that programme has been remarkably successful at Academy Court (formerly Stonegrove/Spur Road), at New Hendon Village (formerly Grahame Park) in Colindale, and most recently at Hendon Waterside (formerly West Hendon estate).

"... In 2008 Brian led the Council team that negotiated the commercial terms with Hammerson and Standard Life for the £4.2bn regeneration of Brent Cross & Cricklewood. This is a huge mixed use retail, housing and other commercial development scheme covering 150 acres and involving half a million sq ft of additional retail space, 7,500 new homes, and 20,000 new jobs.

"Brian also led on the development of the 'Barnet Bond' – a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) style proposal that eventually found its way into the Local Government Finance Bill 2011 as the Business Rate Retention Scheme."
 

---

From a reader:

"Dear Brent Cross Coalition,

"I have been very impressed by the fine development at 'Academy (Stonegrove) Court', particularly this delightful view from the flats/apartments:

"My admiration also applies to the equally-fine development at '(West) Hendon Waterside', including this oddly-familiar view from the flats/apartments:

"I understand that Brian Reynolds Associates have acted as consultants on the two schemes. We should congratulate them (him?) on the remarkable consistency they (he?) have achieved. These matters can so easily slip into tiresome individuality, unless rigid standardisation is enforced by talented and experienced executives."

Yours, P. Rachman Esq., Paddington

---

Link to RUDInet web site

RUDInet: "New London town centre with CHP plant and new rail station: plans submitted to Barnet Council"

"Plans for one of the biggest regeneration schemes ever undertaken in London have been submitted to Barnet Council. The £4.5 billion regeneration is designed to provide a new gateway to the capital and a vibrant new urban quarter in Barnet.

"The plans for a whole new town centre based around Cricklewood and Brent Cross would create 27,000 jobs, 7,500 homes, 3 schools, new health facilities, high quality parks and open spaces, and investment of more than £400 million in improving transport.

"The proposals from development partners, Brookfield Europe, formerly Multiplex [not any longer; they've cleared off], Hammerson and Standard Life Investments [still hanging in, just], also include a commitment to pioneering standards of environmental sustainability." [Yeh, right.]

"... The Leader of Barnet Council, Cllr Mike Freer, welcomed the proposals. He said:

"This is a major development, that will deliver a new residential area of the highest quality, and which will also achieve the highest possible eco-standards. It will enable us to deliver our policy to 'Protect, Enhance and Grow', by providing a huge boost to employment, while at the same time safeguarding the environment."

"The Development Director for the Brent Cross Cricklewood Development Partners, Jonathan Joseph, said:

"This application represents a unique opportunity to deliver the long recognised potential for regeneration in Brent Cross Cricklewood, and create a thriving new town centre that will put this part of North West London firmly on the map.

Our plans will bring new homes, jobs, shops, schools, parks and leisure facilities, and the largest investment in transport and community infrastructure in the area's history. It is rare for London to get a new mainline station – and we will deliver one here. ['We'? Perhaps only in the world of Thomas the Tank Engine.]

Climate change is a vitally-important global issue, and we will use the latest technologies to increase recycling, maximise the use of renewable fuel, and reduce the scheme's carbon footprint.

'We firmly believe this is a scheme that will hugely benefit Barnet and London."
[Even if stuck with just the 'Brent Cross Living Bridge' [sic] now?]

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'Estates Gazette' video

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Link to HOME (see all posts).

"Borisstan: the independent city state and docking station for global wealth formerly known as London"

Link to The Guardian

"By the summer of 2030, David Cameron wasn't a name that meant much to most Britons. Ed Miliband? He barely rated a mention from the Will Straws and Euan Blairs now running the Labour dynasty.

"Yet there was one early-21st-Century politician who could claim a permanent legacy. Little urchins would break off from intense communion with their iJobs™ to pull off a passable impersonation. 'Cripes!' They'd say, while ruffling their hair. 'Crikey!'

Boris Johnson, who else? He was the godfather and loudhailer of the campaign to make London independent from the rest of Britain. The fight had taken decades, but at last it had triumphed: even while Scotland remained part of the UK, the erstwhile capital had broken away and was now its own city-state.

"This latest signatory to the UN charter was officially dubbed Great London, but most people used an informal name that honoured its inspiration. They called it Borisstan."

Boris says: "Of all the miserable, useless, cynical examples of corporate short-termism and greed, this takes some beating"

(Click for Evening Standard)

Boris is talking about Brent Cross, right?
Is he?
He is, isn't he?

Daily Telegraph: "Building societies warn on 'house price bubble'"

Link to web site

"The Building Societies Association (BSA) has joined criticism of the Government's Help to Buy scheme, warning that it could create a house price bubble.

The BSA said it was 'critical' to have a clear exit strategy from Help to Buy's mortgage guarantee scheme in particular, which is due to launch early next year.

Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA, said:

"Care is needed to prevent the actions taken today inadvertently causing a distorted housing market in three years time - a market where state intervention has artificially hiked prices."

Why is Hammerson's development at Brent Cross shared with a tax haven?

(and why does Hammerson employ a tax haven to run ts employee share ownership scheme?

---

"In 2010, the plans for a new town centre at Brent Cross Cricklewood were approved by Barnet Council and the Mayor of London, paving the way for the biggest investment in the area’s history.

"The Brent Cross Cricklewood development partners have now made three improvements to the plans:

1. a new network of streets and spaces at and around Brent Cross;
2. introducing a major new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the North Circular Road; and
3. earlier delivery of some of the transport improvements across the whole area.

"Starting on Sunday 23 June, a series of exhibitions will provide an opportunity to learn more about these improvements, as well as what is already on its way as part of the approved scheme. Local residents will also have the chance to give their views and ask questions about the changes."

[Reposted] Cricklewood Station to close, for benefit of Brent Cross developers: Brookfield/Multiplex? (cleared out.) Hammerson? (clearing out.) GVA's Brave New Punter?

London Borough of Barnet
Cabinet Resources Committee
18 April 2013 (link)

"...GVA are also commissioned to explore potential funding strategies to bring forward critical infrastructure within the Regeneration Area, including the Thameslink Station.

"This review will be complete in April 2013, and reported to Cabinet Resources later this year"

Thameslink Station?

(North is to the left; the A5 Edgware Road is along the bottom)

That will be the:

'Cricklewood New Station'

to replace the existing:

'Cricklewood Old Station'

then! (Incidentally, it is next to part of the Brent Cross waste incinerator).

As Network Rail said, in October 2007 (source)

"Taking cognisance of the new station development, and the re-modelling of Cricklewood sidings, any work done at the current Cricklewood station would be potentially abortive cost.

The recommended option is to utilise Selective Door Opening [at the] station, configured to allow the maximum length of a 12-car train possible to stop at the existing platforms. Once the new 'Cricklewood' station becomes operational, a decision will have to be made as to the future of the current Cricklewood station."

The London Borough of Barnet and Hammerson have always vigorously denied the likelihood, or even the possibility, that the current Cricklewood station would close.

Until now:

“Concerns [were] raised at the Welsh Harp Joint Consultative Committee meeting of 21 March 2013 over the future of the Hendon Rail Station, as a result of new rail station proposals associated with the Brent Cross Cricklewood development.

I have had confirmation from [the LB of Barnet] Transport and Regeneration Manager who dealt with this aspect of the Brent Cross Cricklewood submission that whilst the future of Cricklewood Station could be in question as a result of the proposals, the approved scheme would not result in the closure of Hendon station."

Senior Planning Officer, Major Developments Environment, Planning and Regeneration, LB of Barnet

So it's progress - of sorts!

British Land: "Shopping centre development gain outweighs pain - but only just"

"Britain’s retail planning system is variable: variable in policy, variable in approach, variable in quality and level of response.

"Add to this inconsistency the hazards thrown up by judicial reviews and the new Community Infrastructure Levy and the retail development system finds itself in a difficult corner.

"All retail developers want is to create the new space required by both retailers and consumers, jobs and good shareholder returns. Right now the odds are against all three aims.

[Reposted and updated] Terry Farrell's Old Oak Common video (why is Hammerson and 'London Communications' too incompetent or ashamed to make a Brent Cross one?)

Link above for video and links
on 'London Reconnections' web site

"The run-down area will see 12,000 new homes and 40,000 jobs in Hammersmith and Fulham, if the Department for Transport (DfT) approve its high-speed rail (HS2) plans in December.

"It would result in a new transport hub and major interchange station linking Great Western and West Coast mainlines, Crossrail, Bakerloo and Central underground lines and Heathrow Express as the HS2 travels from London to Birmingham in just 49 minutes.

"A major regeneration of the area, dubbed 'Park Royal City', designed by world-renowned architect Sir Terry Farrell would revolutionise one of London’s poorest areas."

(These are somewhat fanciful short-distance light-rail routes;

'Stonebridge Park to Kensal' is maybe 'on-street-running', and

the other route may be 'segregated', partly on viaduct.

These may link to the 'North and West London Light Railway'!)

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A 'Brent Cross Coalition' study of the Old Oak Common area is on our Transport page.

---

Link to
"Old Oak Common: 'Our circles are bigger than your circles, Hammerson".

---

April 2013 Update:

Possible Boris Development Corporation

---

Link to Home (see all posts).

Good News on House Prices: "Record high London asking prices driving property upturn"

Link to Evening Standard

"Record high London asking prices are driving a widespread upturn in the country's property market, a leading property website said today.

"House sellers' average asking prices have broken through the quarter of a million pounds milestone for the first time, while in London the average surged past half a million to reach £515,243.

"The new record meant that new sellers coming to market were asking £252,798 on average in June, representing a 1.2 per cent month-on-month increase on a previous record set in May, property website Rightmove said."

[Reposted from March 2013] Booming Wembley! "Designer outlet signs up Villeroy & Boch and Lavazza"

Link to Evening Standard

"London’s first designer outlet, next to Wembley Stadium [and with three railway lines to reach it] has signed up a batch of new names, including homeware retailers Villeroy & Boch and Oneida, as well as Italian coffee giant Lavazza.

"They will be joining shops including Marks & Spencer, Nike, Armani Exchange, Superdry and LK Bennett at Quintain’s London Designer Outlet, which is due to open later this year.

"... The 8-million square feet [Wembley City] scheme is being built in stages, with the first phase of cinemas, restaurants and shops to be completed this year."

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London

Designer

Outlet

Link

Kings Cross Development (Actual photos. Brent Cross will be virtual. Look out for the incinerator chimney!)

Link to more photos

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(Web site of Kings Cross development)

Barnet Times and Barnet Press (x2)

Boris and Hammerson leak image of new Brent Cross 'Living Bridge' (pedestrian route over North Circular Road, retaining existing Tempelhof Avenue bridge for light-rail)

(Hammerson's Brent Cross Incinerator chimney is in right-hand distance)

(Source)

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From Boris's
'2020 Vision:
The Greatest City on Earth'

"This document is to explain the agenda for London, so that we can make our case to government and to the world. It is a route map and a manifesto for Westminster and Whitehall, so that government has a clear idea of how investment in London can help drive the rest of the UK economy."

Creating the future

"We must decide the projects we need and then get passionately behind them. That means boldness, and also humility, because we can’t see round every corner, and we can’t get everything right.

"The world is full of planning disasters [the Brent Cross Cricklewood plan, from the useless Hammerson people?], from vibrant neighbourhoods that have been destroyed by urban expressways, to purpose-built global capitals that have perfect houses and perfect lawns and lovely wide boulevards - and nothing approaching a sense of urban buzz or community [Canary Wharf?].

A population explosion

"The London of 2026 will be busier and more full of human beings than at any time in history - and that is the biggest single challenge we face. According to the Government’s Official Census the population has risen by 330,000 since 2008, and our projections show that by 2016 it will reach an all-time high of almost 8.7m people

"From 2011 to 2021 the population will have risen by a million - the fastest rate of acceleration ever. We are going to hit 9m before New York, and approach 10m by 2030

"These astounding figures are essential to the argument that follows. This population growth is not so much a function of immigration per se, but of greater longevity and of live births in London, often to the families of immigrants.

"Many people may find these figures amazing and even unsettling; they may wish that a tighter grip had been kept on illegal immigration over the last decades. But we cannot wish those children away.

"We need to think about the future of those thousands drawing their first breath every week in London’s maternity wards. They are going to want happy, fulfilling and productive lives - and their chances of achieving that depend on the strength and the competitiveness of the London economy.

"With these demographic projections, we are going to need to find at least another 450,000 jobs for Londoners in the next ten years. We will need another 400,000 homes

"We will need new and better transport links to connect the two, to make both jobs and homes viable, and to allow the economy to perform."

"It is not the job of this document to puff rival cities,

but look briefly at this map of projected

and funded transport investment in [outer] Paris."

AGENDA 2020: Transport

... Secure a stable 10-year funding settlement for TfL, to:

• ... build a new Thameslink station at Brent Cross - Cricklewood

[Transport page]

 
BRENT CROSS - CRICKLEWOOD

"Since 2010 plans are afoot for a metropolitan-scale town centre at Brent Cross-Cricklewood with a new Thameslink station and the M1 Gateway. 10,000 new high quality homes and 22,000 jobs will be created. A new living bridge will connect an expanded Brent Cross retail centre to the south of Cricklewood.

"14 million square foot of new development and £4.5bn investment will transform the area."

[Reposted] London and Planning: the post-war experience

"Apart from things like atom bombs and so on, I'm quite satisfied"

"First transmitted in 1959, American reporter Ed Murrow returns to London where, during the war years, he had broadcast vivid descriptions of Britain during her 'finest and darkest hours, trying to report the suffering, the sacrifice and the steadiness of her people' to a listening world.

"This film features dramatic reports of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, which gave rise to his celebrated closing phrase 'Good night and good luck'. Murrow returned to London to examine 'what Britain has done with her years of victory'. He reports from London’s East End, which still bore the scars of the wartime raids, the London docks where dockers claim that taxing them for working on Sundays is 'the greatest liberty that’s been took by a worker in his life', and asks London’s younger generation what kind of world they would like to live in.

"'This is London...' on the brink of the 1960s, from where Murrow argues that post-war hopes for better health, better education, better housing and full employment are falling short of expectations."

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"London's strength, and London's weakness, lies in it being a pattern of accidents - no great planner seized on London..."

 [certainly not at Brent Cross Cricklewood]

"First transmitted in 1964, this film charts how London has grown in size and spread into the surrounding country. Written and narrated by architectural critic Reyner Banham, 'A City Crowned with Green' describes the unique character of London as a capital city.

"Banham looks at how it has, from the time of Elizabeth I, defied the efforts of the planners to curb its growth, but he is alarmed by the urban sprawl.

"Is to too late to get back closer to the heart, and make London a city crowned with green?"

---

Link to HOME (see all posts).

Hammerson leaks image of new "Brent Cross John Lewis, Multiplex Cinema and Bus Station" (326 bus not shown)

(Source)

Reminder of Boris's Sep 2011 "Opportunity Areas Planning Frameworks" (there's just about to be an updated Old Oak Common one, by the way)

Link to PDF file

including:

"Brent Cross"

"The ‘Cricklewood, Brent Cross and West Hendon Regeneration Area Development Framework’ was produced by consultants on behalf of Barnet Council, GLA, TfL and the landowners. The framework provided the strategic context for decision making by the Council and formed the basis of the outline application for the 151 hectare regeneration which will provide a new town centre, 7500 homes, employment opportunities and transport infrastructure."

"Adopted: December 2005"

"We can’t go on in the present way much longer… let’s build little light bridges for cyclists"

Link to 'Roads Were Not Built for Cars'

"Think cars invented traffic jams? Not a bit of it, London’s streets have been clogged with traffic for a very long time. In 1905, before motor cars became popular, a newspaper asked:

"What can we do to relieve the congested state of the traffic in our streets? This is the question which has been racking the brains of the London civic authorities for years past.

As ever-increasing additions are made to the thousands upon thousands of vehicles to be pushed and squeezed through the generally narrow thoroughfares of the city, the task of solving the problem becomes greater in magnitude."

Evening Standard: "Londoners are '£2,200 worse off than two years ago'"

Link to web site

"Londoners have suffered a £2,200 blow, on average, to their real-terms pay in just two years, Labour said today.

"... Even in percentage rather than pound terms, the capital saw one of the largest drops in real wages, down 7.5 per cent."

"Exhibitions detailing the £4bn Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration scheme will take place later this month"

Link to 'Brent & Kilburn Times'

"A series of public exhibition about updates to the controversial £4-billion plans to regenerated Brent Cross and Cricklewood will begin later this month.

"The original proposals, which campaigners have been battling against, will see the shopping centre in Hendon double in size [true, as in the 1996 plan] and a large-scale regeneration of the Cricklewood area [really? - not by Hammerson, so by whom?].

"However, Hammerson and Standard Life Investments, the developers of the scheme, have now made three improvements to the plans;

• a better Brent Cross Shopping Centre,
• a new pedestrian bridge, and
• faster delivery of some of the major transport improvements.

[Er, is that it?]

"Members of the Brent Cross Coalition protest group believe the proposals will result in thousands of extra cars travelling through the area, and the doubling of the shopping centre will have a detrimental effect on the community.

"Mike McGuinness, development director at Hammerson, said:

"The benefits of Brent Cross Cricklewood will be felt for generations to come, and we are eager to get on and deliver. These updates to the plans will ensure that the regeneration plan becomes a reality and will help secure investment into the area."

 Exhibition details

 Brent Cross Shopping Centre

Sunday 23 June, 11.30am – 6pm
  Monday 24 June, 10am – 8pm
    Tuesday 25 June, 10am – 8pm
      Thursday 4 July, 10am – 8pm
        Friday 5 July, 10am – 8pm
          Saturday 6 July, 9am – 8pm

 Middlesex University, The Burroughs, Hendon

Wednesday 26 June, 12pm – 8pm
  Thursday 27 June, 12pm – 8pm

 Hendon Leisure Centre in Marble Drive, Hendon

Friday 28 June, 12pm - 8pm
  Saturday 29 June, 11am – 5pm

 Crown Moran Hotel, Sala Room,
 Cricklewood Broadway, Cricklewood

Monday 1 July, 12pm – 8pm
  Tuesday 2 July, 12pm – 8pm

"Call for evidence on how best to unlock large scale housing development"

Link to RTPI web site

"The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), represents 23,000 planners worldwide, working in the private, public, education and charity sectors, and is the membership organisation of professional planners in the UK..

"It has issued a call for evidence on how best to unlock large-scale housing development, the first step in a piece of research aiming to suggest practical solutions that would allow communities to meet housing need in their area.

"The RTPI is asking stakeholders in the built environment to answer seven specific questions by the 5th July, ... including:

"How important is the process of community engagement? Can you give examples where community engagement has worked effectively in the delivery of large-scale housing developments?"
[We can certainly give an example where Hammerson and London Communications Agency were too greedy and incompetent (respectively) to worry about 'community engagement'.]

"My Ambitions for London" (by B. Johnson, aged 48-and-three-quarters)

"A London of 2020 will be a city with:

• A neo-Victorian surge of investment in mass transport – by 2018 the great engineering feat of our time, Crossrail, will be open and a massive programme of tube upgrades complete
• A cycling revolution – new superhighways will cross the city, connecting rail hubs, while a network of quietways will radiate from town centre ‘mini-Hollands’
• The education and skills to compete to win London’s share of global growth, with enough school places and more valuable work-place opportunities
• The best place to invest and do business on the planet, building on our financial prowess and investing in tech and med hubs – areas in which we can lead the world
• The biggest home-building drive for a generation providing homes that Londoners can afford
• Opportunity areas opened up for homes and jobs, creating new neighbourhoods and tackling social exclusion
• Vibrant, safe, attractive, green town centres and streets bustling with life and business."

Link for more

Nicky Gavron AM: "International Federation of Housing and Planning"

Link to web site

"I was honoured to give the opening address this Sunday evening at the International Federation of Housing and Planning Centenary Congress here in London.

I argued that, in the face of enormous global and local challenges, cities must be adaptable and flexible if they are to thrive.

"I shared London’s story of adaptability: how we transformed from an industrial city with a huge port, to a centre of business and finance, academia and medicine, and the arts and new technologies, and how now once again we are adapting to a low-carbon resource-efficient economy.

"As London adapts and faces challenges like population growth and climate change, I argued it must remain committed to the compact city approach. Under the strategic planning direction initiated by Ken Livingstone and myself as his deputy Mayor, and retained by subsequent versions of the London Plan, London is committed to accommodating growth in population and jobs, through new and expanded towns within its own boundaries, particularly on brownfield land and at transport nodes."
[Ah, Brent Cross, then. Oh no, it's not currently a credible transport node!]

Evening Standard: "Crossrail 2 is vital for ‘golden age’, says Mayor Boris Johnson"

Link to web site

"In 'The Greatest City on Earth', an upbeat 82-page document written by the Mayor himself, he argued the capital’s growth was a key driver of the UK economy.

"His call for a 'long-term and stable' funding settlement comes just two weeks before the Government spending review, which could include potentially 'catastrophic' cuts of 15 per cent of London’s transport budget.

"Mr Johnson said:

“After the wretched decades of the mid-20th century — when investment in transport was stifled — we are now back in what some (the optimists) would call a Golden Age. We are in the throes of a neo-Victorian surge of investment in mass transit. It is absolutely vital that we do not stop.”

Daily Telegraph: "Councillors are as much to blame as powerful supermarkets for the demise of Britain's high streets"

Link to web site

"... Professor Sparks sits on the advisory board of the Scottish Government's review of town centres, and has been invited onto the High Street forum put together in England by Mark Prisk MP and Boots director Alex Gourlay.

"He said the shoppers had to shoulder part of the blame, because they had stopped spending money with traditional high street shops - and switched to either the internet or out-of-town malls.

"But he said the seismic shift was hardly suprising, given how little there was to attract the public to the centre of towns. He told the Telegraph:

"We need local authorities to prioritise how they spend money and put more into town centres, from planning to the state of buildings. It's going to cost a lot of money to fix, but we have to find a way of getting people to invest.

It matters hugely. Towns are our economic and social hearts. And look at the soullessness and placelessness of alternative. Looks at parts of the USA and the problems they face. It really matters."

So Brent Cross can be expanded on the back of more cheap consumer debt, can it?

"Trying to solve a debt problem with more debt has created a bigger bubble, and it's hard to see what the central banks can do"

Link to The Observer

"As the world approaches the sixth anniversary of the freezing up of credit markets, a terrible idea has occurred to investors: we might only be part-way through the crisis. This has come as something of a shock. For the best part of the year, markets have been pushing asset prices higher in the belief that the worst of the crisis is over.

"... Doubts are now starting to set in, and rightly so. Cheap credit has done wonders for equity and bond markets, but precious little to revive real activity. This has been the weakest recovery from a slump in living memory. And financial markets have become dependent on central banks keeping the money taps wide open, even though the evidence is that each additional dose of easing is less effective than the last.

"Markets are currently skittish, not because there is a risk that the Federal Reserve will start to reverse its quantitative easing programme but because of fears that it might start to reduce the amount of assets it purchases monthly.

"An extremely aggressive and highly dangerous dependency culture has developed, and it is not easy to see how central banks get out of the problem that they have created for themselves."

North London Waste Plan: Letter from FORAB

"We am writing with the views of  FORAB, an umbrella group representing 15 Residents Associations in Barnet.

"The new plan should not follow on from the deeply flawed previous document but start with a blank sheet of paper. We do not accept that the majority of the last plan was sound.  It was riddled with errors, omissions and inconsistencies.

"The previous forecasts of waste produced were out of date and inaccurate, as less waste was being produced by a larger than forecast population.

"More work must be done on prevention at source and point of use. The waste hierarchy must be systematically and methodically followed.

"There must be detailed investigations into the type of waste being produced, both now and likely to arise in the future.

"More work is required into what can be recycled, and this amount maximised. 

"Methods of managing the residue need more thought than last time. So-called energy from heat can lead to toxic fumes and even more toxic ash being produced. Alternative methods and existing sites seemed to have been largely disregarded last time.

"The impact of the noise, smell and impact of additional heavy traffic on the immediate and wider community was treated with cavalier disregard last time.

"The number of sites considered, how they are rated, and which are shortlisted must be done properly this time.  Last time it appeared that the two preferred sites were used as a base line [maybe Brent Cross and Pinkham Way?], then a number of other sites were listed without regard to whether they were suitable or not, and totally disregarding other more suitable locations.

"The scoring system was used inconsistently and irrationally last time.

"We look forward to seeing more thorough and comprehensive documents, following a full and professional option appraisal of all the possible sites in the seven North London Boroughs, not just Barnet."

---

Link to Barnet Times:

"FORAB join coalition against Brent Cross Cricklewood plans"

Daliy Telegraph: "Britain faces decade of austerity, influential think tanks warn"

Link to web site

"Britain faces a decade of austerity, with public spending cuts likely to dominate the next two General Elections, two leading think tanks have warned.

"In a joint study, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Institute for Government warned that a further 250,000 civil servants may lose their jobs because of sluggish economic growth.

"They said that both the 2015 and 2020 General Elections are likely to be fought on grounds of austerity, and that the situation could worsen with the decline of North Sea oil and the rising costs of healthcare.

"Carl Emmerson, the Deputy Director of the IFS, said that one of the first actions of whoever is chancellor after the next election in 2015 may be to put up taxes."

---

Link to web site

The Guardian:
"Money: The Unauthorised Biography by Felix Martin – review"

"... For author Felix Martin, Sydney economist Steve Keen and other dissidents, money is more than the oil in the engine – a mechanical lubricant – but a socially-created system of transferable credit, a way of keeping account of what people owe each other, while allowing them to transfer their various "IOUs" to others. Crucially, it is not just governments that create money – others can, too. The recent internet-based Bitcoin is one example; community currencies such as the Brixton and Bristol pounds are others.

"But more significant by far is the money created by private banks. Indeed, the recent financial crisis was largely caused by banks issuing IOUs and effectively "creating private money outside the control of government" in a "vast, unregulated 'shadow' banking system". On the eve of the crash, the shadow banks' balance sheet stood at around $25tn in the US alone – more than twice the size of that of the traditional banks."