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Green light for Old Oak Common mayoral development corporation


The London Assembly has opted not to block plans to establish a mayoral development corporation to lead the regeneration of the Old Oak Common and Park Royal areas of west London.

Old Oak Common is the planned site for a new High Speed 2 and Crossrail station due to open in 2026. Along with neighbouring Park Royal, the area has been earmarked for regeneration in the London Plan, with the expected creation of up to 55,000 new jobs and 24,000 new homes.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has proposed to set up the Old Oak Common and Park Royal development corporation (OPDC), which would become the local planning authority for 950 hectares of land in the area, straddling parts of the London Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent and Ealing.

The OPDC would receive powers to acquire land, prepare local plans and decide planning applications under the proposals, and would also be able to set its own community infrastructure levy. The corporation's board would include councillors from the affected boroughs and representatives from the local community.

Members of the Greater London Authority met this week to consider Johnson's proposal to designate the area for a mayoral development corporation. Despite concerns about affordable housing targets and infrastructure funding, the members opted not to exercise powers to block the proposal.

"This is one of the biggest and most exciting regeneration schemes for decades and will rival the impact that the Olympics had in east London," said Johnson in a statement. "With the city's population skyrocketing towards the nine million mark we need to squeeze every drop of potential out of this opportunity and a mayoral development corporation will drive forward the delivery of the homes and jobs that London is crying out for."

The mayor of London's office said that Johnson would now write to secretary of state for communities and local government Eric Pickles stating his intention to establish the OPDC.

Legislation to set up the OPDC is expected to be laid before parliament in early 2015 and the corporation is expected to come into existence on 1 April 2015.

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