OPDC launches new consultation on Old Oak Plan modifications

 

From Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC)

Following the Public Examination with the Planning Inspector last year, we have made some proposed changes – or in planning terms, ‘modifications’ - to our draft Local Plan. Although most of it is largely the same, we are no longer bringing forward our plans for housing in Old Oak North and have identified other sites where we can bring forward new affordable homes, jobs, public space and facilities.

A report to OPDC’s Board in October 2020 provides an overview of these proposed modifications. The Board report and appendices can be viewed at the following links

1. Board Report on OPDC’s proposed draft Local Plan modifications 
2. Appendix 1 Work Programme
3. Appendix 2 Proposed draft Local Plan Modifications 

 

We are currently in the process of engaging with landowners and community  stakeholders on the proposed modifications, drafting policy changes and compiling evidence. We plan to submit these proposed changes to the Planning Inspector in February 2021, and we’ll be holding a formal public consultation in the spring. Before that, we would like to invite you to one of two public online engagement sessions to be held on:

• Tuesday 24 November 18:30 -19:30
• Monday 30 November 12:30- 13:30 (this session will be recorded)

During the sessions we will present the proposed changes and next steps. This will be followed by a Q&A discussion where you can ask questions. 

If you would like to attend either session, please contact the planning team on planningpolicy@opdc.london.gov.uk or 020 7983 5732. Alternatively, you can sign up here. 

Is more accountability to Brent residents and councillors needed from our OPDC representative?

Considering the enormous scale of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development we herelittle in Brent about progress from our representative on the board Cllr Muhammed Butt.  After Cargiant threw a spanner in the works over its site LINK the London Mayor announced with a fanfare that the Corporation had been given a £250m award by the government:

Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC), has today welcomed the government’s decision to award £250m to kick-start development on the West London site.

The investment, from the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund, will be used to assemble land, design and build vital roads and utilities infrastructure. This will allow development of homes and businesses to begin at Old Oak North, close to the new transport ‘Superhub’ where the HS2 and the Elizabeth Line will meet.

Old Oak North is the first of six new neighbourhoods planned for the 650-hectare site. When complete, it is predicted that the entire redevelopment of Old Oak and Park Royal will deliver 25,500 new homes and 65,000 new jobs.

Old Oak and Park Royal is one of London’s largest Opportunity Areas with a new High Speed 2 (HS2) and Elizabeth line (formerly Crossrail) station due to be constructed at Old Oak by 2026. Redevelopment of the area has the potential to deliver 24,000 new homes and 55,000 jobs in Old Oak, as well as 1,500 new homes and 10,000 jobs on the adjoining Park Royal industrial estate.

Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) is the body tasked by the Mayor with driving forward future development plans for the area. OPDC has full planning powers within the 650-hectare site, which includes land in the boroughs of Hammer smith & Fulham, Ealing and Brent.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:

Old Oak and Park Royal is one of the capital’s most important regeneration projects with the capacity to deliver tens of thousands of new, genuinely affordable homes and jobs.

Therefore, I’m pleased that government have shown its support for our vision through this funding grant. This money will let us enter a new stage in the development of Old Oak, delivering the essential infrastructure to make the Old Oak dream a reality.

 Anyone wanting further information on the activities of the Board discover that the Minutes of the meetings are published a long time after the meetings. The last meeting for which Minutes have been published was November 28th at which Muhammed Butt was replaced by Cllr Shama Tatler with just observer status.

The leaders of the three London Boroughs involved, Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham are all on the broad for which they receive an allowance of £15,000. LINK  Cllr Butt is also on the Appointments and Remuneration Committee along with Brent's Head of Planning Amar Dave.

It is difficult to find how Cllr Butt reports back to Brent councillors on the OPDC and how its decisions are scrutinised. There were 5 Board meetings in 2018 and 1 Appointments and Remuneration Committee meeting. This is a pretty good rate per meeting and I am sure Muhammed Butt would argue that he does far more work on the OPDC than just attend meetings - it would be good have some detail.

The Brent Council website shows just how many other outside committees he is on:

A life spent in committee rooms looks rather dreary but Cllr Butt's role does bring him some pleasure:

There are some consultation meetings on OPDC plans coming up soon - details HERE

Is the Old Oak Common project in jeopardy?

 The vision in 2016

The Evening Standard reported yesterday LINK that the biggest landowner of London's largest regeneration project at Old Oak Common, Cargiant, has axed the £5bn proposal to develop its site.

The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) was set up by Boris Johnson when London Mayor and Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt is a member of the board. LINK

Tony Mendes, managing director of Cargiant said the project had been made unviable by the actions of the OPDC:

Old Oak Common is fast becoming known as Old Oak Cock-up. The area was supposed to hep meet the housing crisis in London with 25,000 new homes, but it is going to fail to deliver all but a fraction of that number, at an outrageously high cost to the public purse.

Mendes called for the OPDC bid for £250m government funding for infrastructure to be  'paused' while the Government investigates the £30m of government money already spent and the bid to be properly scrutinised by the London Assembly and MPs.

A commenter on the Evening Standard website  says:

This is a reaction from Cargiant to the Compulsory Purchase Order for their land that the OPDC wants to obtain. Under a CPO, Cargiant will receive just the value of the current undeveloped land, plus the standard sweetener, which means Cargiant makes much less money from the site. On the other hand, the OPDC wants to build at a super-high density of 600 homes per hectare. Cargiant probably thinks that is far too high to sell the homes on the open market. At that density, the danger is that they might be bought just as investments largely from abroad, often with no one living in them.

A spokesperson for current London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, expressed disappointment that Mendes was 'looking to frustrate the project' and said that the OPDC had made a business case to the Government  for Housing Infrastructure Funding that would 'unlock the scheme' with a decision to be made in due course.

We are bound to hear more on this and I hope Brent councillors will play their part in scrutinising the project as one of the interested parties.

'Positive' stories from Brent Council to drown out racism findings?

A regular reader writes to point out his suspicions of news management by Brent Council

• The Kilburn Times website published an article about the Rosemarie Clarke tribunal decision on Monday lunchtime (22 September). 
• This story will hopefully appear in tomorrow's paper edition, which they would have been finalising the content for on Tuesday (23 September), with only a limited space available for Brent Council related stories.
• Also on Tuesday, Brent Council issued four press releases, each containing a "positive" story.
• Two of these press releases contain quotes from Cllr. Butt.
• Cllr. Butt is at the Labour Party conference this week, and unable to deal with important issues, such as what to do about Cara Davani in the light of the Rosemarie Clarke tribunal decision.

Brent Council's Commications Director Cheryl Curling was made redundant in January 2014. Her department was then restructured and expanded from 9 staff to 11. Existing staff had to reapply for their jobs.

This is the current structure of the folks paid to give Brent Council a great public image and mitigae any negative stories:

Recruitment for the Head of Communications was handled by our old friends Bloomsbury Resourcing LINK

Here are the 'positive stories' released on Tuesday. Hold the front page!

Free activities for National Fitness Day

Bid to build more homes in Alperton and Wembley 

Reduced waiting lists for Brent allotments

Win for Brent in prestigious horticultural awards 

One more for luck was released today:

Wembley Crossrail key to Brent's backing for Old Oak Regeneration

The latter may make it into the Wembley and Willesden Observer which always has one Brent story on the front page but very little about Brent inside.

However this was relased 8 days after Brent Cabinet made the decision about Old Oak. Not exactly hot off the press!

London Green Parties oppose Mayor's Development Corporation in Old Oak/Park Royal

The following  motion, proposed by Brent Green Party, has been passed unanimously by the London Federation of Green Parties.

--> “We call on the London Federation of Green Parties and the Green Party GLA members to oppose the Mayor’s plans to remove local planning powers over the Old Oak/Park Royal area as we believe this undermines local democracy and may further worsen  social and housing inequalities in order to increase private profit.”

Brent Council calls for modification of Mayoral Development Corporation' for Park Royal/Old Oak while Hammersmith & Fulham opposes in principle

Brent's Cabinet which meets tomorrow afternoon, will be considering its response to the proposed Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) that would take control of the regeneration of Old Oak Common and Park Royal. It would cover parts of Brent, Hammersmith and Fulham and Ealing.

Stephen Cowan, leader of  Hammersmith and Fulham Council, came out strongly against it in July, calling it a 'land grab'.

This council objects to an MDC at Old Oak and Park Royal. We are concerned about the Mayor of London’s record on delivering truly affordable homes for Londoners and do not believe he should be entrusted with sole responsibility on a scheme of this importance.

We are committed to changing housing policies so that we build homes for residents rather than investment properties for overseas speculators and look forward to working with Ealing and Brent councils to do that. There is no good business case for the Mayor to step in.

In fact, the move in government over the years has been to devolve more powers to local communities not take them away. The Mayor’s proposed organisation is a throwback to decades long gone, it would be undemocratic and unnecessarily takes away powers from local residents and local businesses and essentially hands them over to developers and unelected bureaucrats.

There is little information on Ealing Council's  response but Brent Council LINK does not follow Hammersmith and Fulham in opposing the MDC in principle:

To support delivery on the scale required there is no doubt a delivery body  with a strong regeneration focus is required. Without such a body there is a real risk that the opportunity HS2 and the Old Oak interchange presents for Brent will be missed. Arguably an MDC gives Brent greater influence over the proposals that will come forward at Old Oak as the Council will have representation on the decision making bodies.

The report goes on to seek some changes in the MDC brief..

In fact, when the Ealing Officer's report LINK sets out their demands if the MDC goes ahead despite their opposition, there is little difference between the two Councils.  Both seek changes in the borders of the MDC zone.  Both seek greater representation on the MDC and quote the Localism Act in their support. Both also seek assurances on the availability of genuinely affordable housing. Brent is also concerned about the CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy).

Countering the MDC proposal Hammermsith and Fulham call for a Joint Area Action Plan:

The Council has also discussed the potential for a joint Area Action Plan that would include land from LBs of Ealing and Brent as well as LBHF. Officers from the three Boroughs have been working well together on this project for a considerable period of time meeting weekly with the GLA and TfL as a JointProject Team and reporting up to a Project Strategy Board. LBHF has resourced the project with key staff who have led on and significantly progressed the project. This process could continue (subject to discussion and agreement with LBs of Ealing and Brent) and a cross borough Area Action Plan could be progressed by the three boroughs without the considerable expense and administration involved insetting up an MDC.

This is not mentioned as far as I can see in the Brent report - Brent offers no alternative, just a modification of the MDC. It is surprising that in dealing with a Tory mayor that three Labour boroughs have not cooperated more on their response.

Brent Officers call for the following local benefits:

Controversial issues ahead for Brent Cabinet on September 15th

Brent Council's Forward Plan gives clues to what is coming up at future Cabinet meetings although explanation is minimal. Full details of reports and agenda items are only available to the public one week before the meeting.

With the lack of an effective opposition and poor scrutiny arrangements (and doesn't the Care Quality Commission report on the NW London Hospitals NHS Trust make the case for a powerful separate Health Scrutiny Committee) early notice becomes more important, although actvists may have to speculate about what indiviual items really mean.

Here are the reports/proposals coming up for discussion at the September 15th Cabinet with my comments in italics. Note how much background information is withheld from the public on various items.

The Cabinet now alternates day time and evening meetings. This meeting will be at 2pm.

Developing a new Borough Plan for Brent 2015-2019

To approve the process and timetable for agreeing the key priorities for Brent over the next five years and the plan to achieving them. (This will be in the context of continuing major cuts to LA budgets)

Consultation on the proposed Mayoral Development Corporation for Old Oak and Park Royal

To approve the response to the GLA consultation on the proposed Mayoral Development Corporation for Old Oak and Park Royal. (This also affects Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham boroughs and it means Boris Johnson will takes planning powers away from those boroughs.Hammersmith and Fulham Council have objected LINK. Will Brent?)

Performance and Finance Review Q1

To confirm the first quarter’s performance and spending in 2014/15.

Mobile Workforce Software Procurement

To agree to procurement of a Mobile Workforce Software Solution through competitive tender that can be used by any field officer working in areas such as Social Services, Building Control, Planning, Environmental Health etc. to carry out their key tasks interacting with their line of business systems when offsite using mobile devices such as tablets.

These are the following key benefits:

* Customer service improvements and actions can be carried out immediately.

* Staff and efficiency savings as staff can spend more time in the field and will not need to travel to the office before or after their appointments.

* Potential cost reductions data will not need to be re-keyed when staff come back to the office

Initial communications provision at the new Civic Centre was poor, will this be an improvment. Interesting also that this aims to reduce use of the £100m Civic Centre by staff. The Council is already proposing to lease two floors to Air France, is this intended to release more space?

Update on Public Health Contracts

To note the progress on the procurements of the public health services and to approve the selection criteria and timetable for the procurements

School Expansion

To agree procurements and statutory consultations to take forward specific school expansion proposals.

An appendix to this report will be not for publication as it contains the following categories of exempt information specified in the Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act, namely: information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information); and, information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority.

Contracts for building works associated with school expansion are lucrative but have not always delivered on time or of best quality with sub-contracting sometimes an issue.

Brent Education Commission Review

To consider the action plan based on the recommendations of the Brent Education Commission review.

The Review has major implications for the development of education in Brent LINK and includes some controversial proposals including encouraging free schools to set up in Brent to provide extra places (the current restriiction on LAs building new schools coudl be lifted by a new government in 2015) and the scaling down of Brent's school Improvement service. Certainly any Action plan needs to be subject to widespread discussion and consultation.

I would argue that Education, or Children and Families, due to the complex issues involved also needs its own Scrutiny Committee.

Brent Local Implementation Plan (LIP) submission for 2015/16 - 2017/18

To endorse the 2015/16 LIP submission to be submitted to Transport for London

To delegate authority to Operational Director, Neighbourhoods to proceed with schemes subject to results of consultation and to deliver the programme within overall funding allocation.

(Signficant expenditure/savings > 30% of budget for the function in question)

Domestic Violence Advocacy, family support and MARAC coordination services

To award the contract for the provision of domestic violence advocacy, family support and MARAC coordination services for a period of two years from 1 November 2014 to 31 Oct 2016, with the option to extend for further one year.

Housing Zones

To approve the submission of an application to the GLA to establish a housing zone and its location in the borough to accelerate housing supply.

This relates to a government initiative to release brownfield sites for housing. The Mayor of London has invited bids for £400m funding to set up 20 housing zones in the capital.

South Kilburn Regeneration Programme

To note the progress on the South Kilburn regeneration programme and to approve the progress the procurement (sic) of a developer partner for the Gloucester House and Durham Court redevelopment site.

Appendices to this report will be not for publication as it contains the following categories of exempt information specified in the Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act, namely: information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

South Kilburn residents have not been happy with the regeneration so far LINK

Another regeneration scheme, another extension of Mayoral powers and another kick in the face for local democracy

Guest blog by Nic Lane on behalf of Brent Housing Action LINK and the Radical Housing Network LINK

Last week the members of Brent’s Citizen Panel were sent the following email:

“The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has recently outlined proposals to transform Old Oak and Park Royal into a thriving new district with up to 24,000 new homes and more than 55,000 jobs.

As part of this long term plan, the Mayor intends to create a new Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) to unlock the enormous regeneration potential of this 950 hectares of industrial land at Old Oak Common and Park Royal in West London.

Please click here to find out more and to take part in the online consultation on Old Oak - Mayor's Development Corporation.

The consultation will run until Wednesday, 24 September 2014.”  

Residents are strongly urged to read the documentation that the link leads to; this is another classic example of BoJo's "monolith-o-maniacal" desire to stamp his personality all over London with a series of regeneration schemes and so-called iconic buildings in his run up to become PM (or possibly another Caesar given his latinate leanings).

It is only a couple of months ago that BoJo was publicly reprimanded in the London Assembly LINK for overusing his ability to veto the wishes of local government planning departments - even when these pet projects are in direct contravention of his own "London Plan" LINK Tulip Siddiq, Labour’s prospective 2015 parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, revealed at last Wednesday’s Swiss Cottage Action Group this looks very likely to happen again in the case of the development at 100 Avenue Road LINK due to the height of the proposed building.

The formation of the proposed Mayoral Development Corporation will create a nasty precedent which will give him further legal powers to ignore the wishes of any local democratic organisations, be they Councils or residents groups. This is made clear in the documentation:

“Within Old Oak and Park Royal, the Mayor intends for the new Corporation to take on powers relating to infrastructure, regeneration, land acquisitions including Compulsory Purchase Orders, adopting streets, and business and financial support. In addition, the Corporation would also take over planning powers from the London boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham. The Corporation would lead on preparing the local plans and determining large planning applications submitted within this area.” LINK

Even worse, this plan creates a noxious local parallel to the hugely under-reported Infrastructure Bill that is currently before Parliament. This bill - which is comparable to the Enclosure Acts in its land grabbing intent - allows for 90% of local authority "brownfield sites" to be parcelled out and sold on by the Homes and Communities Agency without reference to any other planning agency decisions or the wishes of the local residents. More information about this Bill can be found here LINK and here LINK 

It's also worth noting that the potency of the claim that the development will create "24,000 homes and 55,000 jobs" currently has all the strength of an homoeopathic remedy; there is no trace evidence of the type of homes or jobs the scheme will create. It's all a construct of BoJo's feverish imagination and desire to attract foreign investment to the Capital LINK a sales pitch for a quack panacea for London's ills. This is the description of how Old Oak will be transformed:

“... the Government has announced proposals for a new High Speed 2 (HS2) and Crossrail station at Old Oak by 2026, potentially making it one of the best connected railway stations in the UK. This could give rise to significant potential for economic development, jobs growth and new homes. The Mayor of London also sees this as an opportunity  to regenerate the wider area.

Based around the new HS2 and Crossrail station at Old Oak, the Mayor, Transport for London (TfL), plus the London Boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent and Ealing, have been considering the potential for regenerating the area and are seeking views on a 30-year Vision for Old Oak. This could transform the area with up to 90,000 jobs and up to 19,000 new homes, schools, open spaces, shops and leisure facilities.” LINK

As this last quote shows, the advocates of this plan can't even offer up a coherent concrete argument. It's all maybes and made-up figures and Machiavellian manipulations.

Please, please, please - complete the consultation and show your opposition to the creeping centralisation of power which is placing the wishes of the financiers and developers over the needs of local residents.

Old Oak and Park Royal Mayoral Development Corporation proposed

The boundary of the Old Oak Mayoral Development Corporation

The Mayor of London is inviting comments on the creation of a new mayoral development corporation covering Old Oak and Park Royal. It would cover a substantial area of south Brent.

This consultation will run for 14 weeks from 18 June to 24 September 2014, following which the Mayor will review all comments received and will consider how best to proceed with setting up the new Mayoral Development Corporation.

You can provide your comments via this link or alternatively you can directly email OldOakMDC@london.gov.uk with your comments and/or questions.

 

-->

 The aims of the MDC:

“Deliver the physical, social, economic and environmental regeneration of Old Oak and Park Royal. To secure maximum benefits from the newly planned transport improvements. To plan for the transformational change at Old Oak and at the same time work to protect and regenerate the industrial areas of Park Royal. A central objective of the Corporation would be to secure high-quality sustainable development and investment for the benefit of the area and the communities that surround it.”

What powers would a Mayoral Development Corporation have?

The Corporation would be responsible for planning the regeneration of Old Oak and Park Royal comprising powers relating to infrastructure, regeneration, land acquisitions including Compulsory Purchase Orders, streets, business and financial assistance, preparing local plans (including Community Infrastructure Levy) and determining large planning applications.

The London Boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham would continue to perform all other functions, including services related to: environment, health, social services, housing, leisure, culture, community, childcare, crime prevention, safety, education, highways, business and job support, licences, town centre management, Council Tax, student benefits and grants

When responding please indicate if you would like to be contacted about the preparation of future

plans for Old Oak and Park Royal and also provide your preferred contact details.

The return of Wembley and Willesden as political entities?

My mother and father, hailing  from either side of the Welsh Harp, used to bring the class divisions between Willesden and Wembley into their domestic rows. The political row over the merger of the two councils, now fading into history, still has resonance.

Now the Boundary Commission's revised proposals  suggest a Wembley and a Willesden Parliamentary Constituency which may revive some of the old rivalries.

Northwick Park ward goes into Harrow West and College Park and Oak Oak, previously Hammersmith and Fulham, are now part of Willesden. Brent's Kilburn and Queens Park wards, are now in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency alongside eight Camden wards.

35. Hampstead and Kilburn BC 78,225 Kilburn Brent 9,777 Queens Park Brent 8,882 Belsize Camden 7,555 Fortune Green Camden 7,181 Frognal and Fitzjohns Camden 7,036 Hampstead Town Camden 7,047 Highgate Camden 7,634 Kilburn Camden 7,504 Swiss Cottage Camden 7,916 West Hampstead Camden 7,693.MAP

66. Wembley BC 73,303 Alperton Brent 8,742 Barnhill Brent 9,773 Fryent Brent 8,274 Kenton Brent 8,922 Preston Brent 9,256 Queensbury Brent 10,080 Tokyngton Brent 8,961 Wembley Central Brent

MAP

67. Willesden BC 77,279 Brondesbury Park Brent 7,961 Dollis Hill Brent 7,627 Dudden Hill Brent 7,947 Harlesden Brent 8,254 Kensal Green Brent 7,677 Mapesbury Brent 8,359 Stonebridge Brent 9,240 Welsh Harp Brent 7,908 Willesden Green Brent 7,412 College Park and Old Oak Hammersmith and Fulham 4,894 MAP

There is now an eight week consultation period before the proposals go before Parliament. Consultation closes on December 10th 2012. Responses should be sent to london@bcommengland.x.gsi.gov.uk