Mayor intervenes over Southall redevelopment scheme

London mayor Boris Johnson has decided to intervene for the second time over a major redevelopment scheme in the capital using his new call-in powers.

At issue are proposals for a major development in Southall that could deliver up to 3,750 new homes, a hotel, cinema and sports facilities which have been turned down by the London Boroughs of Ealing and Hillingdon.

The scheme, by energy giant National Grid, was proposed for the Southall Gas Works site which straddles the boundary between the two west London planning authorities and adjoins the main rail line into Paddington railway station.

The project includes plans for 1,100 affordable homes as well as a new hotel, around 20,000 square metres of retail space, and restaurants, bars, cafes, a cinema and sports facilities.

Johnson has argued that the redevelopment has the potential to deliver huge regeneration benefits for west London and is of major strategic importance for the whole of London.

He said: “This proposal clearly meets the test of a planning application of major significance to London with the homes it will deliver and the jobs it will create. Failure to develop this key brownfield site could be detrimental to the future economic prosperity of west London, which is an important driver for the capital’s entire economy.”

Read the Mayor of London press release.

 

Roger Milne

7 January 2010