H & F Council Says No to Old Oak "Land Grab"

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And calls Mayor's Development Corporation anti-democratic

Hammersmith and Fulham Council says a proposal to take local planning powers away on one of the capital’s biggest housing projects are "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.

The Mayor of London launched a consultation on plans to create a Mayoral Development Corporation, or MDC around Old Oak Common and Park Royal, the area where the new High Speed 2 hub station is expected to be built.

The MDC would assume planning powers within its borders, which span large parts of the north of H&F and parts of Brent and Ealing.

H&F’s new Labour administration says it objects to this and has raised concerns that this is nothing more than a land-grab designed to make life easier for the developers – at the cost of local people.

Cllr Stephen Cowan, leader of H&F Council, says: “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 un-democratic and unnecessarily takes away powers from local residents and local businesses and essentially hands them over to developers and un-elected bureaucrats."

The public consultation, which runs until September 24, 2014, is asking Londoners for their views on issues such as the proposed boundary, its potential planning powers and whether an MDC is the most effective way to deliver the regeneration.

Cllr Cowan adds: "Local people's views should be at the heart of decisions affecting the future of their community and this is their chance to make themselves heard. I urge residents to make their views known."

You can find out more and take part in the current consultation here.

HS2 is set to make Old Oak Common Britain's best connected railway station as it acts as the main interchange between HS2 and Crossrail. Old Oak would have a vital role in taking pressure off busy central London terminals like Euston, the London terminus of HS2, which could not have coped with the 13,000 extra passengers an hour that HS2 will bring. A new generation of trains, running at speeds of up to 225mph will stop at the new Old Oak hub station.

Five of the nation's airports will be linked to the high-speed rail network for the first time through the Old Oak interchange. Central London and Heathrow will be just 10 minutes away, Birmingham will be 40 minutes direct from Old Oak and Luton, Gatwick and City Airport will all be within 45 minutes.

Around half of working age adults within 1.2miles of the station are unemployed. Some parts of the area - which includes a large amount of railway land with train depots, two waste recycling facilities, the Car Giant dealership and other light industrial uses - are in the bottom 1% most deprived nationally.

 

July 3, 2014