LBHF Officers recommend agreement with Earl's Court CLSA plan

The Council's Cabinet will decide whether to enter into the Conditional Land Sale Agreement (CLSA) on 3 September, which includes the transfer of the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates.

Developer EC Properties' proposed Earl's Court redevelopment includes plans 8,000 new homes, including 760 new replacement council houses, and a planning agreement that could include up to £1 billion community benefits. The scheme would create up to 9,500 new jobs.

The Officers' recommendation follows an extensive consultation on the estate and wider area which revealed that the majority of the people in the wider area are in favour, while a majority of people who took part in the consultation on the estates are opposed, the Council said.

"The masterplan is built on a vision of creating four separate ‘villages’ linked by a new High Street and park," the Council said. "Overall this would include 7,583 new homes, of which 1,500 would be affordable. It would also include new shops, offices, leisure facilities, a new school, new transport links and healthcare centre."

An outline planning application to redevelop the area, based on Sir Terry Farrell’s masterplan, is due to be considered by H&F’s planning committee on 12 September. The Council also recently approved a planning application to build 808 new homes at Seagrave Road.

"If the CLSA is agreed approximately 200 of the planned homes would be used in a first phasing plan," the Council said. "People would be moved in defined blocks designed to minimise disruption, keep neighbours together and ensure that people only have to move once."

“This redevelopment could deliver the kind of economic growth that London needs to move out of recession ploughing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of investment into the local economy and bringing thousands of new homes and jobs," said Nicholas Botterill, leader of LBHF.

"We have said all along that the major beneficiaries of this investment have to be the residents living on West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates, followed by the wider area, the borough and London as a whole," he said.

“We will only make a final decision after weighing up all the arguments, looking at the economic studies and the views of our residents. We know that many people living on the estates want new homes, while many other people have concerns. If the CLSA is signed we will continue to listen to people and do our very best to address those concerns,” said Botterill.

If planning permission is approved on September 12 it would be based around the vision of Sir Terry Farrell’s masterplan which would create 9,500 new permanent jobs and 1,500-2,000 jobs per year in construction.