After a long wait, formal approval is expected shortly for the start of preparation of a Neighbourhood Plan for this area.  RB Kensington and Chelsea are due in May to ‘designate’ their part of the proposed St Quintin and Woodlands area.  For a map and more details of these proposals see at this link.

The delay on these proposals has not been the fault of RBKC.  The proposed plan area extends westwards to Wood Lane, in order to include the triangle of housing around Eynham Road and the Imperial West site.  Following a 6 week consultation exercise last summer (when views for and against the proposals were evenly balanced) LB Hammersmith & Fulham has since chosen not to reach a decision on whether to designate that part of the plan area in their borough.

So the way forward will be for RBKC to grant approval for the larger part of the plan area (see map below). The process of consulting locally and drawing up a draft plan can then get underway.  In the next few weeks we will be circulating all 1400 households, businesses and shops in the plan area with basic information explaining the process.

We will be looking for people who are interested in coming together on the management committee of what will be a newly constituted body – the Neighbourhood Forum for this area.

We hope that residents and businesses on the LBHF side of the boundary will want to take part in local discussions, and that Hammersmith & Fulham Council will eventually be persuaded to designate their part of the area.  In the meantime, the arrangements for the Forum and Plan insofar as they relate to LBHF will be in ‘shadow’ form only.

The Government has started a new programme of funding for neighbourhood plans.  Over 300 neighbourhoods across England are currently taking the opportunity to prepare such plans.   Grants of £7,000 will be available to neighbourhood forums, to meet the costs of holding consultation sessions, and putting together a draft plan.  We intend to apply for such a grant when bidding opens on May 1st, so that the new Forum has some resources to progress the necessary work.

Membership of the new Forum will be open to anyone living or working in the area. If you are interested in knowing more, or taking an active role in the management committee of this new body, please email to sthelenassn@aol.com.