OPDC reacts to Cargiant’s Old Oak fury

Old Oak is the largest and perhaps the most exciting mixed-use regeneration programme in the UK, writes Liz Peace CBE, chairman of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation. Sitting on 140ha of brownfield land in zones 2/3 in west London, this currently inaccessible land will be transformed when the new HS2 and Elizabeth Line station opens in 2026. This station will be the largest new station to be built in the UK in a century and will make Old Oak one of the most accessible locations on the UK transport network. See also: Furious row breaks out over Old Oak ‘cock-up’ The mayor of London and OPDC are keen to unlock the huge benefits this massive public investment presents. Alongside the three local authorities of Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham we have a shared an ambitious plan to deliver 24,000 new homes and 55,000 new jobs at Old Oak. Old Oak will become a new centre of gravity in west London, a new community offering much needed new homes and job opportunities for both local people and the wider London economy to continue to grow. To this end the industrial land at Old Oak is being released, in a plan-led approach, through the mayor’s London Plan and OPDC’s Local Plan to accommodate new mixed-used development at Old Oak. This will be complemented by protecting and intensifying the important industrial offer at Park Royal. To secure delivery at Old Oak, OPDC and the GLA have also submitted a Housing Infrastructure Funding bid to central government to secure £250m of public funding. This funding would be used to start delivery of the first pieces of costly strategic infrastructure and to commence the first large phases of development in Old Oak North. This public-led intervention will give the mayor and OPDC the certainty that up to 10,000 new homes and 5,500 new jobs would be delivered for Londoners by the early 2030s. Development on complex brownfield land is a challenge. We are working hard with local landowners to minimise impacts on local businesses where possible. My team are committed to working constructively and flexibly with all landowners. We stand ready to consider any alternative proposals that will support the mayor’s long-term plans for the area. We have been having these delivery-focused discussions for many months, including with Cargiant, and so its current public approach is disappointing. We will continue and we believe solutions will be found.