Plans for 3,500 new London homes

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Development

Up to 3,500 new homes could be coming to the London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, a quantity of which will be for social and affordable housing.

The largely derelict 67-acre Kensal Gasworks site is currently the subject of a major consultation.

The news comes on the same day that at least 3,500 new homes have been announced for the Battersea Power Station site.

This means that 7,000 news homes have been announced for the capital in one day.

Local residents and businesses are being asked to comment on three illustrated options for the derelict Gasworks site.

The first option looks at what might be achieved on the site without a Crossrail station. The second and third options consider how the development might be boosted if the council’s campaign to bring a Portobello Crossrail station to the site succeeds.

A station, the council argues, would enable a more intense development, with far more homes, employment, commerce and community facilities. Option three, for example, envisages a waterside style development with 3,500 homes, a reinstated canal basin and a new bridge across the rail tracks.

The options mark the first stage in the process of creating a 'Supplementary Planning Document' against which any future planning applications will be judged.

In a recent report from economic analysts Regeneris, it was estimated that bringing a Crossrail station to the site will create 2,000 jobs and add £690 million to the local economy.

“Our research has already shown the tremendous difference in value between a development with a station and a development without,” said Cabinet Member for Planning, Cllr Tim Ahern.

“Our view is that our economy needs that additional growth and our people need those extra homes, jobs and facilities.  

"But we don’t take up these positions in a detached way. Our ambitions for the site were developed with local people who now have a further opportunity to comment on our direction of travel and influence the development that eventually takes place.”