9 June 2010

Good afternoon <<First Name>>

For too long, we've built shopping centres, leisure facilities and other developments entirely around the car: set in a sea of parking spaces, with hardly a bus stop or a cycle path in sight. 

Just as bad are the new housing estates built with no thought for public transport connections and devoid of local shops or services, so residents have no choice but to drive to superstores or already congested town centres.

This sort of town planning should be a thing of the past, but sadly it's not.

At Brent Cross in London, redevelopment is welcomed by everyone. But developers have insisted on plans that include 20,000 car parking spaces, with no significant new public transport and with poor connections to local walking and cycle routes.  

London should be using its major development sites to build schemes that would create better transport conditions in the local and wider area and point the way for the future. Instead, people living in or near Brent Cross will be condemned to an unhealthy, carbon-intensive, traffic-congested future.

The developers have presented the plans as an all-or-nothing proposition. They are wagering that the prospect of a £5 billion scheme will be too much to resist, allowing them to duck the challenge of creating a much less car-dependent development.

All indications are that they're about to get their way. 

We need the new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, to hold a public inquiry into these terrible plans.

Take action: call for a public inquiry using our quick online form

Please don't think that this action is only relevant to Londoners: the Government is today announcing its new approach to planning and Brent Cross could be the first test of this. Let's prove that many, many people care about this issue.

Thank you

Richard Hebditch
Campaigns Director 

P.S.  You'll have seen news about the big cuts in Government spending. We'll be launching our own report that'll set out how we think cuts can be made without sacrificing the environment or quality of life. Keep an eye out for details on our website next Tuesday.