HS2 Growth Task Force – The Challenge Response from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham The local authorities welcome HS2 Limited’s revised delivery role to make High Speed 2 an engine for growth. They are pleased to be able to provide the following response that identifies specific opportunities for the development of land at and around the proposed Old Oak Common HS2 / Crossrail station, and demonstrates how these opportunities can be realised to maximise local economic growth. The authorities would also like to draw attention to how the design and development of Old Oak Common station can best support regional development, how parts of this development can be delivered in advance of HS2, and highlight an opportunity to achieve a capital return on the North Pole Depot which is owned by the Department for Transport. This response identifies the opportunity for 92,000 jobs and 22,500 new homes. However, without the outlined changes to current HS2 proposals half the new homes and a quarter of the new jobs will not be created and redevelopment of Kensal Canalside Opportunity Area will be effectively sterilised. Connecting markets, businesses and people Question 1: Do cities have visions and strategic plans to maximise growth from HS2? 1.1 In central west London an Opportunity Area Planning Framework for Old Oak Common is being produced by LB Hammersmith & Fulham (LBHF), LB Brent and LB Ealing in partnership with the Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL). This envisages the area becoming London’s next Canary Wharf scale development. With the right infrastructure and station design there is the opportunity to create up to 90,000 jobs and 19,000 homes with new schools, open spaces, shops and leisure facilities (including a new stadium for Queens Park Rangers football team) around the proposed Old Oak Common HS2 / Crossrail Station. The Mayor has recently launched a consultation on the Further Alterations to the London Plan, which following further research identifies the Old Oak Common area as having the capacity to deliver fewer jobs (55,000) but more homes (24,000). 1.2 The first stage of this process a 30 year Vision for Old Oak Common was put out to public consultation in mid 2013. The consultation leaflet can be seen http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/consultations/old-oak-common 1.3 The vision’s objectives are to: Maximise the opportunity presented by the creation of the strategic transport interchange to regenerate 155 ha of derelict and underused land and contribute significantly to the growth and economic development of London. Support redevelopment of the area surrounding the proposed interchange, by designing the proposed HS2 station to maximise local and regional connectivity. Develop the Strategic Industrial Land offer at Park Royal and investigate the potential to relocate businesses from Old Oak Common to free up land adjacent to the international train station. Investigate the potential for a network of new open spaces and green links creating a “green cross” connecting Old Oak Common Station to North Acton, Willesden Junction, Wormwood Scrubs and the Grand Union Canal. 1.4 Creation of a Mayoral Development Corporation, with plan making and development management powers, to deliver this strategic vision is being progressed. 1.5 The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea was part of the Old Oak Common visioning process but had to pull out because TfL would not allow inclusion of the Borough’s ambition for a Crossrail Station in the adjacent Kensal Opportunity Area. The Royal Borough continues to lobby for this station as it is the only realistic way this valuable brownfield site, comparable in size to King’s Cross or Paddington Basin, and the surrounding area, which includes some of the most deprived wards in London, could benefit from the increased connectivity HS2 will provide. Without a station this site could accommodate 600-2,000 (depending on whether North Pole Depot is released). With a station and North Pole Depot it can accommodate up to 3,500 homes and provide 2,000 jobs. Question 2: How are our cities Network Rail and other key partners working together to prepare for HS2 and maximise integration with local transport networks? 2.1 The Opportunity Area Planning Framework (OAPF) Working Group was formed in 2012 with membership from the four local authorities LB Hammersmith and Fulham, LB Brent, LB Ealing and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea1), the Greater London Authority, Transport for London and Network Rail. The OAPF is led by Project Team and overseen by a Project Management Board (senior officers) and a Strategy Board (political group). The Project Team with representatives from all parties meets weekly to progress key issues related to HS2/Crossrail and the regeneration of Old Oak Common. The key issues the OAPF working group is currently progressing are: Creating additional Overground rail connections (see point 4) Enhancing strategic road connectivity (see point 3) The opportunity to bring forward construction of the Crossrail station at Old Oak Common in advance of HS2 (see point 5) Unlocking regeneration and development Question 3: What opportunities are there for station sites to help transform and regenerate their surrounding areas? Old Oak Common and Park Royal 3.1 The Old Oak Common vision shows how the HS2 / Crossrail interchange could transform underused land around Old Oak Common into London’s next Canary Wharf scale development (see point 1 for details) and provide a step change for Park Royal, London’s largest industrial estate. 1 RBKC pulled out of the OAPF Working Group in summer 2013 as explained in point 1.5 3.2 50,000 of the 250,000 people who will use the interchange daily are expected to leave the station but Old Oak Common station is only accessible by road from the west which would put considerable pressure onto Old Oak Common Lane and Victoria Road. 3.3 HS2’s proposed road improvements are considered inadequate and would use up any free capacity in the surrounding road network and would therefore reduce the viability of development in the area, adding to delays in delivery. If development is to be brought forward at Old Oak Common it is essential that an alternative access is provided into the station from the east. This could be achieved via a bridge over the Grand Union Canal. In addition to relieving pressure on the surrounding network, this bridge would provide a direct connection to 35 hectares of under-used land to the north of the Grand Union Canal, kick-starting regeneration of an area capable of accommodating 7,000 homes and 5,000 jobs. It would also provide the most direct vehicular link to RBKC in the short-medium term before the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) Depot is released in 2028. 3.34 Without enhanced road connections the Old Oak Common station will just be an HS2 / Crossrail interchange with very limited wider regeneration benefits. Kensal Gasworks 3.5 HS2 could also help to transform the Kensal Canalside Opportunity Area, but as set out in point 5 below this opportunity is put at risk by the decision to relocate the Heathrow Express Depot at Old Oak Common to the North Pole Depot in order to accommodate the new HS2 / Crossrail station. If the North Pole Depot is released for development and there is a Kensal Portobello Crossrail station the site can accommodate 3,500 homes and 2,000 jobs, without either the development capacity is limited to 600 homes. Question 4: What is the scope to use HS2 stations – and the improved connectivity they offer to kick-start wider economic growth in the local area? South and West London 4.1 There is a significant opportunity for the HS2 / Crossrail station at Old Oak Common to achieve wider economic growth in south and west London by providing additional connections to Overground services and providing a Crossrail connection to Kensal Canalside Opportunity Area. This would also help to relieve pressure on Euston. 4.2 Two London Overground lines run close to the planned HS2/Crossrail Old Oak Common station. The North London Line runs to the west of the proposed station, connecting Richmond to Willesden Junction and on to Stratford. The West London Line runs to the east connecting Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction and has stations at Shepherd’s Bush, West Brompton and Imperial Wharf (which correspond to the White City, Earl’s Court and South Fulham Riverside regeneration areas respectively). With a direct Overground connection to HS2 at Old Oak Common residents in all these areas would have access to a much greater employment opportunities and businesses would benefit from greater employee and customer accessibility. 4.3 A gross value added study has shown that connecting the Overground network at Old Oak Common would provide for an additional 865,000sqm of development in the Old Oak area, which would provide an additional 6,500 homes, 22,000 jobs and generate an additional £10billion GVA to the UK economy, an additional £32m business rates per annum, and an additional £5m of council tax per annum. 4.4 Current HS2 proposals do not include a connection to Overground services at Old Oak Common. Without additional Overground connections the full development potential of the Old Oak Common site will not be delivered. Kensal Canalside Opportunity Area 4.5 Poor road connections between North Kensington and Old Oak Common mean that providing an additional Crossrail Station at Kensal/Portobello is the only realistic way of linking Kensal to Old Oak Common. Other options like providing a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) connection are being explored by TfL, but no proposals have yet emerged that could approach the transport connectivity of a Crossrail service.