Old Oak Common Development Corporation Gets Government Go Ahead

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Bringing "superhub" one step closer but clashing with H&F Council

Plans to create a rail "superhub" and up to 24,000 homes at Old Oak Common in the north of the borough moved a step closer yesterday after the government gave the go-ahead to create an Olympic-style development body for the scheme.

Eric Pickles, the communities and local government secretary approved the creation of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, handing London mayor Boris Johnson control. If approved by parliament, it will come into force on 1 April.

These plans however, bring the government and mayor into conflict with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which has said that taking away local planning powers on one of the capital’s biggest housing projects is "an anti-democratic land grab" which gives the potential for the Mayor to allow the building of properties for overseas speculators rather than homes Londoners can afford.

Local campaign group Save Our Scrubs has also expressed fears that the development will seriously disrupt the open space of Wormwood Scrubs, as has the Wormwood Scrubs Charitable Trust Committee.

Old Oak Common is set to become a superhub for Crossrail and High Speed 2 (HS2) by 2026, capable of serving 250,000 passengers a day or the equivalent to Waterloo Station.

Boris Johnson wants to use the rail links to help spur the regeneration of the 2,300 acre area and deliver a £6.2bn boost to the London economy.

He says: " The vast new station at Old Oak Common presents us with an almost unprecedented opportunity to transform an area the size of a small London borough into a thriving new part of the capital,"

Queens Park Rangers hopes to build a new stadium at Old Oak Common but has clashed with car dealership Cargiant, which owns the land and has plans of its own for Old Oak Park, which would have a new town centre providing 9,500 homes and a new high street, two schools and a cultural hub.

 

January 28, 2015