There have been no new major site applications. The updated Local Plan originally planned for the Spring will not now be ready until the Summer – and this is thought to be due to the difficulties of reconciling the proposals with the realisation that the huge area of land required for the Crossrail Elizabeth line sidings cannot be built over economically and therefore will radically reduce the area of land available for development.

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The plans for the OPDC area continue to advance despite the many problems, not least the funding of the massive infrastructure which will be necessary. It is a concern that often the thinking is not co-ordinated between the various agencies. Transport for London (TfL) recently consulted on the design of two of the proposed Overground stations at Hythe Road and Old Oak Common Lane but these were isolated from the adjoining proposals for the Elizabeth Crossrail line and HS2 station at Old Oak Common Lane. At present there is no funding for the TfL stations and the designs seem unnecessarily  heavy and clumsy.

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OPDC Local Plan

OPDC Planning Applications

• Will the rules on Fire Precautions be drastically upgraded ?
• Will developers want to proceed with such towers ?
• Will people want to live in them?

We continue to challenge the very high densities proposed in the OPDC area which result in these tall towers. We hope that the latest lowered growth predictions by the GLA for London may enable some reductions.

Again, we have previously reported on the development of the Local Plan for the Old Oak and Park Royal Development area.

This has to follow the same standard national procedure and consultation timetable as the H and F Local Plan. We commented on the initial plan in some detail and OPDC are due to publish their next stage Plan, which should incorporate and respond to comments made.

Members of your committee will be examining and commenting on the revisions.

I have mentioned this in previous updates. The Draft Local Plan is now available for scrutiny and comment. Melanie Whitlock, Angela Clarke and I are very much involved in the extensive consultation and we shall be submitting a Hammersmith Society response by the end of March.

If you wish to review the plans, please visit : opdc.commonplace.is

Please either pass any comments you have to us or send them in independently.

Kensington Gate: This is a site at the top (north) end of Scrubs Lane and is within the OPDC area and adjacent to the Car Giant site. We have been invited to view proposals which are an advanced pre-application stage. We do not know much of the detail except it involves a tower block of about 25 storeys.

OPDC : (See Newsletter Page 4) Also attached is the Society’s detailed response to the Draft Local Plan for the OPDC area. This involved a lot of analysis and attending copious briefing and discussion meetings. My thanks go to Melanie Whitlock and Angela Clarke for their help and support with this exercise. Our major concerns are spelt out in the Newsletter but if you would like to see what else we had to say, please take a look, although it only really makes sense if read it with the OPDC documents which can be viewed on line. We hope that our comments will help make the overall development a more humane environment for all who will live, work and visit there.

There are as far as we know no immediate threats to our Open Spaces in Hammersmith but we always have to be vigilant. For example, Wormwood Scrubs is within the OPDC area and there are anxieties as to what effects all the development may mean for this Metropolitan Open Land. Similarly Little Wormwood Scrubs (on the other side of Scrubs Lane) could be under threat from a re-arrangement of the West London Railway Line. There are of course always issues to do with Parks maintenance which have to fight for funds against other Council spending.

The Hammersmith Society is affiliated to the Open Spaces Society and they have concerns about open spaces in London generally. I would urge members to support their campaign as below:

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This briefing event took place in the Town Hall and was useful and informative. There were 34 attendees and several presentations explained the principles and showed examples where Neighbourhood Plans had either been implemented or were still going through the process.  Two separate initiatives are being pursued : Henry Peterson advises as follows :

Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum and Plan

Proposals for a neighbourhood plan for the Old Oak area continue to be developed, and the following residents groups and amenity bodies in Ealing and in Hammersmith & Fulham, are involved in current discussions.

• The Island Site Residents Association (TITRA)
• Wells House Residents Association
• Wesley Estate Residents Association
• Residents of Midland Terrace/Shaftesbury Gardens
• Residents of the Old Oak Estate
• Friends of Wormwood Scrubs
• Brickfield Association of Residents (Eynham Road area)
• Residents of Woodman Mews

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Things continue to move fast on the Mayoral Development Corporation : We have responded to two major consultations in the last month. (These will posted on our website shortly together with our version of the Vision and Objectives for the area).

The OPDC was only set up this April and is likely to exist for about 30 years until the development is complete. They are having to do catch up, appointing staff and so on. Since my last report the Opportunity Planning Area Framework (OAPF) has been formally adopted. But the team have a lot to do to assemble the formal Local Plan with all its statutory framework and consultations.

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Again I reported on this in my previous News Updates. I have since attended a meeting of the Grand Union Alliance which is a grouping of the many interested groups (and individuals). Interests range from the strategic views for this whole development area to the very personal effects to which many existing residents will be subjected.

The worry is that the OPDC will just become another vehicle for large developers to promote their interests but on the other hand the possibility exists for something really amazing to come out of it. One of the major worries is that it will take between 18 months to 2 years for the OPDC to develop its Local Plan – with added consultation (Public Inquiry etc.) on top of that : In the meantime developers such as Car Giant are pushing on with their plans and have to be assessed against the Old Oak and Park Royal Opportunity Planning Area Framework (OAPF) which is supplementary planning guidance to the Mayor's London Plan, although this is not formally adopted yet. Apparently there were 3,500 responses to the consultation on this of which 3,400 were QPR supporters. Remember QPR have no land ownership within the OPDC area at present!

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