BRENT Council has said it will continue to oppose plans for the £5bn Brent Cross Cricklewood development until new transport assessments are carried out.

The regeneration project, the biggest ever in north west London, will see 7,000 homes and hundreds of new offices and shops brought to the area south of the shopping centre and the A406.

However, neighbouring Brent Council says in its local development plan it will “object to the proposals until revised modelling and assessments are carried out”.

Opponets of the plans insist the traffic projections of 9,000 extra cars being brought to the area everyday, as a previous transport assessment had put the number at 29,000 more vehicles.

The Brent Cross Cricklewood Partners responsible for the development insist the revised numbers are more accurate as most people will come via improved public transport links.

In the plan Brent also supports the idea of a north and west London light railway, which could run through the Brent Cross site if it is approved.

John Cox, a member of the coalition against the plans said: “Brent Council is right to reaffirm its concerns about the Brent Cross transport figures, and the resulting road congestion we will all suffer.

“It was due to questions that the coalition raised about Barnet Council's figure of over twenty-nine thousand extra cars a day that led Barnet to magically revise this figure down.

“After five years of the high figure, it now states a more politically acceptable nine thousand cars, somehow managing to lose twenty thousand.”

Previously Jonathan Joseph, a director of the development partners, has rebuffed the suggestions saying they have never used the figure of 29,000 cars and defending the figure of 9,000.

The plans will also see £200m of development in the road network around the area to prepare it for the extra traffic.