LDN Weekly – Issue 63 – 6 February 2019
RICH MIX
The approval of plans for the Olympia London exhibition centre’s redevelopment is our lead story this week, among other planning and development news. Beyond bricks and mortar, we cover the latest from TfL, the London Assembly, the Communities Secretary, and several Town Halls across the capital.
No Images? Click here RICH MIXThe approval of plans for the Olympia London exhibition centre’s redevelopment is our lead story this week, among other planning and development news. Beyond bricks and mortar, we cover the latest from TfL, the London Assembly, the Communities Secretary, and several Town Halls across the capital. One major development hot off the press today is the selection of joint ventures led by Mace and Balfour Beatty to build the new HS2 stations at Euston and Old Oak Common respectively. We’ll cover it in more detail next week. As always, we’d love to hear your feedback and do follow us on Twitter and Instagram if you don’t already. Also, feel free to visit our website for more information on LCA’s team, services, and clients. YOOHOO FOR OLYMPIA!Plans for the redevelopment of the Olympia London exhibition centre secured planning consent by Hammersmith & Fulham’s Planning and Development Control Committee (PDC) last week. Site owners and developers YOO Capital and Deutsche Finance International (DFI) have welcomed the decision, which unlocks the next stage of their £1bn plans, though it is still subject to approval by the Mayor of London. The scheme comprises not only the modernisation of the original exhibition halls – which date from 1886 – but also new office and conference space, a theatre, a cinema, two hotels, as well as restaurants and bars. Talks with potential tenants from the entertainment and hospitality sectors are understood to be ongoing, with the first deals set to be announced in the spring. At the PDC session, the scheme was approved by four Labour votes to two Conservative and, pending Sadiq’s approval, initial work is expected to begin later this year, with the development’s first tenants to move in by 2023. TFL LATESTThere was clearly a lot to discuss at last week’s four hour TfL board meeting but one particular point piqued the interest of many Londoners. Crossrail Ltd's chief executive, Mark Wild, told the board he ‘can’t see how this job can be delivered in calendar year 2019’ and that he ‘do[es]n’t actually know when it will be delivered after that.’ Wild has consistently, and perhaps wisely, refused to commit to a specific opening date for the Elizabeth Line’s delayed central section, pending a firm assessment of the scale of remaining work and further progress of rolling stock testing. He may be managing expectations, but a 2019 opening now seems highly unlikely. Meanwhile, documentary TV programme The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway returns for a new series on BBC Two next week. WESTMINSTER LATEST
(PETTY) CASH FOR COUNCILSThe final local government finance settlement for England’s local authorities in 2019/20 was approved by a vote of 298 votes to 240 in Parliament yesterday. Communities Secretary, James Brokenshire has touted the £46.4bn package as ‘a real-terms increase’ in councils’ ‘core spending power’, on an annual basis, in the order of £1.3bn. However, the key term here is ‘spending power’ and not ‘funding’. As reported by the BBC yesterday – and as argued by Labour – this figure assumes that councils will choose to increase their tax by the full 3% allowed and enjoy a solid stream of rent and business rates income. As for councils’ guaranteed government grant, it is understood this is set to fall by about £1bn this year. London Councils, which represents the capital’s 32 boroughs and the City of London, warns that the settlement represents ‘little more than a stopgap’ which fails to plug a £500m funding shortfall its members face in the coming financial year. Councils are now gearing up for the Spending Review, to be launched later this year, which will define how Whitehall funds local government beyond 2020. OTHER PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT STORIES TO WATCH
REPORTS
FIAZ ON MANOEUVRESInside Housing has published an extensive interview with the Mayor of Newham, Rokshana Fiaz, focusing on her vision for housing. Fiaz asserts that under her watch, Newham is ‘beginning to tear up the orthodoxy book’ [sic], a comment on the borough’s approach to housebuilding under her predecessor. Indeed, Fiaz suggests that the long-serving Sir Robin Wales’ ‘way of thinking was limited in ambition’. As for her new policy, she highlights a shift in the strategic focus of the council’s wholly-owned housing company towards social housing, as well as the scrapping of plans for a joint venture approach to the regeneration of Stratford’s Carpenters Estate. Fiaz confidently asserts that there is a ‘new story about housebuilding in this country where councils are in the driving seat’ and warns that she is ‘only interested in working with developers and partners who want to be on the right side of history.’ As for those who may not be convinced by this narrative? The Mayor suggests that they ‘can go elsewhere’.
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