Concrete Batching in Cricklewood – Please Object

The Railway Terraces Residents’ Association has drawn our attention to a planning application by Capital Concrete for a concrete batching facility next to the railway line in Cricklewood just off the Edgware Road. The consultation period ends on 12 November – so please register your objection as soon as you can.

You can see the application and comment on it by following this link https://publicaccess.barnet.gov.uk/online-applications, entering the reference 20/4817/FUL at the bottom of the page and clicking Search. If you would like to comment privately you can instead email planning.consultation@barnet.gov.uk and the Barnet case officer, Chloe Jenkins, chloe.jenkins@barnet.gov.uk, quoting the application reference number 20/4817/FUL; if you do email your objection please also copy in your local councillors (full contact details on the Useful Links page).

Residents of the Railway Terraces are very concerned about this proposal. It will site heavy industry in what was supposed to be simply a rail freight transfer terminal. Concrete batching is a dirty polluting industry that has no place very close to a heavily populated area. Similar plants owned by Capital Concrete and others on the Claremont Industrial Estate have, over many years, blighted land around Brent Terrace with dust and noise pollution.

The only hope of preventing the application being approved appears to be massed and concerted action by concerned residents of Barnet and Brent. We hope that you will be willing to join the campaign.

Below is a map of the proposed location. To see it in Google Maps, click this link: https://goo.gl/maps/deUXM6SXFXgJ6cRy7. As you can see, with the prevailing westerly wind this is bound to cause more dust in the Golders Green Estate area.

The main points to note are:

  • The height of the proposed facility is just under 17 meters tall. This will affect fundamentally the nature of the skyline in the surrounding area.
  • The noise generated by the facility will be significant and there has been inadequate mitigation of this in the proposed plans.
  • The facility will mean that hazardous materials are IMPORTED by road onto the site for the first time with the added risks of pollution and contamination (cement is needed to make concrete and is currently not delivered to the site. The building waste that currently is imported by road is non-putrescible non-hazardous waste that is graded off site before being imported).
  • The air pollution modelling has not been based on samples taken at an analogous site but on purely hypothetical models.
  • The use of existing facilities have led to mud and dirt being tracked in/out of the facility. The inability to contain the egress of waste is concerning in the context of concrete/cement being handled on site.
  • The introduction of heavy industry into this part of NW2 is unprecedented. Previously there has been light industry only on this site and manufacturing/retail/ light industry in the surrounding area.
  • The environmental assessment has treated the sensitivity of the site currently occupied by Matalan as retail (and so therefore not a particularly sensitive site). In fact the area is going to be developed as flats (height of development yet to be confirmed) and so the assessment has a gap in it.
  • The consultation process has been patchy and the consultation period too short for a significant development such as this.

One thought on “Concrete Batching in Cricklewood – Please Object

  1. Sampa Chaudhury

    I strongly object to the planning application for the erection of the Concrete Batching Plant at 400 Edgware Road, Cricklewood, London NW2 6ND.
    The construction will be against the character of the area where NO heavy industry is
    situated. The nature of the business will add a lot to the air pollution in the area. No substantial evidence has been provided for the environmental impact of the industry to the air quality in the area.
    The height of the plant is enormous and the noise pollution generated by the operation of the plant in the area will be unbearable. The noise will be heard over a vast area.
    The hazardous materials will be imported by road to the plant making the roads even more perilous.
    The consultation period has been minimal to put forward the proposed development which is significant.

    Reply

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