Crossrail bosses agreed not to pursue plans for a massive train depot on the Green Belt buffer which separates Brentwood from the sprawl of outer London.
The company behind the £10 billion plans for a new rail link connecting Brentwood to central London and Heathrow, had identified a Green Belt site near Brook Street roundabout as one of only two possible locations for a depot for 180 carriages.
But in an announcement this week a spokesman for Cross London Rail Links Ltd said the "planning and environmental effects of the depot's construction" had forced them to choose an alternative site in the centre of Romford.
Campaigners, who first alerted Brentwood Borough Council to the proposals at a meeting at the end of January, thanked councillors for their unequivocal response to the plans.
A spokesman for the Maylands Green Belt Action Group, which is based in Havering, said: "We would like to commend Brentwood Council for its determination to defend the Green Belt Land which borders Maylands Fields and thank all those who have lobbied Crossrail on our behalf."
Brentwood MP Eric Pickles questioned the planning process that led to the site being targeted.
"It makes you wonder what level of planning there was in this", he said.
Published Thursday March 4, 2004
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