Agenda item

The Director of Growth introduced the report on Brent Cross Cricklewood, which provided an update on the comprehensive regeneration of the Brent Cross Cricklewood (BXC) programme since the last Committee meeting on the 13^th June 2019.

Members discussed the requirement for more joined up communication between The Council, partners and residents. Councillor Conway raised concerns on behalf of the Residents Association at Brent Terrace regarding the negative impact the development is having on the local area and environment, she requested Members attend the area to see for themselves. Officers informed the Committee that they were aware of the concerns of the residents, which were inevitable during a scheme of this nature, but every attempt would be made to improve the situation where possible and enhance communication surrounding the development.

Councillor McGuirk suggested better engagement with residents could be achieved using the Area Committees and that these meeting should be held in community venues, rather than within the Town Hall.

Members commented that the updates regarding Brent Cross North were very brief and were concerned that plans had not moved on since the last update. The Chairman reiterated that the current retail market was challenging, but officers were working with Argent Related to deliver the programme. Officers notified the Committee that the planning application had now been activated and a revised plan had been proposed, which would be available to members in November. Members commented that they hoped the transport side of the plan would be revisited and considerably improved, as competitors currently had much better transport connections.

Members requested a report be brought back to the ARG Committee on the southern junctions works, as there was a risk around failure to deliver this. They also requested more detail regarding the reported anti-social behaviour and the steps being taken by the Council to address these issues. Officers agreed to Councillor Conway’s request for officers to meet with residents to address the issues they had raised.

Following consideration of the item, the Chairman moved to vote on the recommendations as set out in the report. The votes were recorded as follows:

RESOLVED that the Committee:

1)    notes the progress update across the scheme since the last report to the committee on 13 June 2019.

2)    Notes that Argent Related have agreed terms to acquire the vacant Toys R Us site and delegates to the Assistant Director – Estates to provide the necessary approvals on behalf of the council as freeholder to assign the lease and complete this transaction (paragraph 1.35). 

3)    Confirms the appointment of DP9 as planning advisors (paragraph 1.17); New Steer as CPO advisors (paragraph 1.36); the extension of Conway Aecom scope of works to include the temporary access road (paragraph 1.13) and to procure the A-Site document management system for use across the programme (paragraph 5.1.15) and delegates to the Deputy Chief Executive to agree the terms of those appointments and any other appointments as necessary within the agreed budget forecast to meet the current delivery programme for the Phase 1AN infrastructure.

4)    Notes that the West London Orbital Design Integration Study has now concluded and has identified two possible options for developing an interchange arrangement for the WLO within the Brent Cross West Station; and approves that a further £50k is allocated from existing project budgets to undertake the necessary additional design works to confirm feasibility and identify a single option which could be incorporated within the GRIP5 station detailed design stage once the contractor is on board (paragraphs 1.42-1.45).