At a site visit to Old Oak Common & Park Royal for London Assembly members last week we saw for the first time, the area that the Mayor wants to cover in his Mayoral Development Corporation ( MDC ) proposal for this part of North West London.

Whilst I could clearly see the need for something to be done in Old Oak Common predominantly in the London Borough Hammersmith & Fulham, l was not totally convinced of Park Royal inclusion into the MDC as it appeared to be a fairly prosperous area with even Lebanese restaurants and it even had its own traffic jams, a sign of success if ever l saw one!

As for Old Oak Common, both the rail yards and the land immediate North of the canal clearly needs something done. It felt and looked comparably to how Stratford looked when the Olympic bid was won in 2005. So clearly a vehicle like the Olympic MDC would help transform this derelict part of W12.

Strategically for London, its also the best place to have the terminus for HS2 in London. It has many rail and tube connections to allow many passengers of the HS2 from the North to get to the rest of London including the new Crossrail operation from 2018 and Overground, Central, Piccadilly and Bakerloo line. It would also save Camden from the works going into Euston….

So look out for the 17th of December plenary for the formation of the MDC where the Mayor will need 2/3 res  majority for permission to set up another Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC). In the meantime, the local authorities in the proposed MDC, thats Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent & Ealing will need to be satisfied its the right type of vehicle to regenerate part of W12.