The Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation has drawn up a new masterplan for its £26bn West London regeneration and is a preparing a fresh bid for grant funding.
Chief executive David Lunts said the Western Lands masterplan will likely require “hundreds of millions” in grant finance from central government.
The OPDC will seek to use the finance to redevelop public land from High Speed 2, Network Rail and Transport for London with a new plan to meet the 25,500 overall homes target, and 13,670 within ten years.
It includes the Channel Gate site currently used by HS2 and potential upcoming land released through Network Rail’s freight capacity review.
The OPDC will apply for the finance under the upcoming Single Housing Infrastructure Fund, which will replace the Housing Infrastructure Fund and is expected to be announced before the end of the calendar year.
Plans for the bid come after the Mayor of London was forced to withdraw the OPDC’s approved bid for £250m, which was reliant on development at Old Oak North, after the planning inspector rejected the local plan proposals last year.
The OPDC was told to remove Cargiant’s 46-acre site from the pan, with allocation for 5,900 homes, which the inspector said was unviable.
It followed a furious row with the UK’s largest used-car dealership and the GLA, in which Cargiant called for a public inquiry into the OPDC’s finances and an immediate halt to spending.
The mayor has already provided the OPDC with £42.7m to date with a total £66m to be committed by 2023/24.
The OPDC is also working with the GLA’s housing and land team on opportunities to for GLA lending, investment or land acquisition, as well as future allocations of affordable housing grant.
Chief executive David Lunts and chair Liz Peace outlined the plans at the London Assembly’s budget and performance committee on 14 October.
Lunts said: “The new Western Land proposals hinge very heavily on publicly-owned land, rather than privately-owned land, nearly all of which is at least indirectly in control of the government.
“We’re going to be very active around bringing those sites forward and securing the infrastructure funding to accelerate some of those sites. We are already very actively talking to a number of local landowners and developers who are still showing considerable interest through the Covid months.”
Peace added: “With a major regeneration like this, almost certainly you have to get your first slug of money from the public sector, because the private sector is not going to put its money at risk in this early stage of development.”
The largest additional sites and number of homes:
-Network Rail, Department for Transport and private landowners: Channel Gate (3,100)
-Department for Transport and High Street Two: Old Oak Common Station ‘Adjacent Station Development’ (800-1,500)
-Aldau Developments 4 Portal Way (702)
-Department for Transport: North Pole East Depot (650)
-Cargiant: Prestige Cars + Cumberland House and Car Park (330)
-Mapletree: Lakeside Drive (230)
-Acton Coachworks/Vivalda: 3 School Road and 99 Victoria Road (200)
-Network Homes’ Central Middlesex Hospital (158)
