Westway Development Trust Planning Update

March 22, 2011

The Trust continues to work with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to agree a supplementary planning brief for the Westway regeneration project. This went out for preliminary consultation in November and from the responses received we have been working with the planners on a few amendments to the draft document. This amended version is currently planned to come out for its full public consultation this summer.

If a plan can be agreed, then the Trust will be hoping to invite the first tenders from prospective private sector partners in 2012 and to get the 10 year regeneration programme rolling.

The main issues that have arisen from the preliminary consultation stage is that we have been asked to clarify our proposals for the longer term replacement for the current temporary skate park in Acklam Road and the interim measures that we are planning before that new facility is able to come on stream.

We have identified a site between Bramley Road and St Marks Road, closer to the Sports Centre and College, suitable for an outdoor active youth area. The plan is to bring together an advisory panel of local youths for us to plan how the area would work best. The problem is that the site will not be available until phase 3, about 5 years away.

So we have proposed to the planners a location for an interim skate park,  The idea is that there would be no gap between the existing skate park being closed for redevelopment and the interim facility opening. In addition we have proposed financial support to the skatebowl at Meanwhile Gardens, so that more local youth can enjoy free skateboarding, as an alternative to the existing pay-to-use skatepark.

Otherwise, the plans were generally well received, with significant improvement in facilities, the introduction of 300 new jobs, new community projects and an upgrade to our gardens and walkways. We are looking forward to these plans coming out in fuller detail for the public consultation later this year.