Agenda item

Councillors Paul Harmsworth, Anita MacDonald and Dominic Gilham attended the meeting and spoke as Ward Councillors.

Concerns and suggestions raised at the meeting included the following:

• Many residents had grave concerns that West Drayton & Yiewsley are forgotten areas of the borough and the needs of local people are not.
• There was a lack of adequate community resources such as local schools and GP practices in the area.
• There was limited potential for commercial development in the West Drayton & Yiewsley area, given the amount of land already taken up by Green Belt designations and Heathrow Airport.
• Positive steps need to be taken to ensure that any Heathrow Opportunity Area so designated only enables sustainable development that will enhance West Drayton and Yiewsley.
• With the suggested alterations the plan as it stands would be to the detriment of the district as stated in Paragraph 9, if the area by the Grand Union Canal and Crossrail station is used for mixed-use development schemes.
• One of the sites designated for development has been earmarked for industrial development, which if approved would bring 100,000 movements per year into West Drayton High Street, which is already heavily trafficked at peak times. 
• The area already had two major housing estates and a bus station accessing a stretch of the High Street barely 75 meters long.
• Without the plan including inventive and feasible ways of alleviating traffic gridlock for newly developed industrial or semi-industrial sites in Yiewsley and West Drayton it is of no use for these sites to be identified as ripe for development within an Opportunity Area.
• The plan must address traffic issues before any designation of the Opportunity Area can be confirmed.  The High Street is used by many in other areas to access Heathrow and other places of work south of the Paddington Rail line.
• West Drayton High Street was only one of four north/south crossing routes in the borough and was not designated as a major route for heavy traffic.
• Any Heathrow Opportunity Area must look at the whole infrastructure of the area and whether thousands of additional traffic movements can be accommodated on already choked roads.
• It was not felt that the there was an adequate and effective consultation carried out by the Council.  Residents were only aware of the importance and significance of the proposals within the Core Strategy due to information provided by a few local residents.
• The Core Strategy does not mention the need to develop strategies to ensure that local centres of Yiewsley and West Drayton profit from the plan.
• Why does the plan not put forward any policies to regenerate Yiewsley and West Drayton apart form redevelopment of industrial sites via the Heathrow Opportunity Area.
• The possible route through Yiewsley and West Drayton of the High Speed Train 2 is another example of how the area was not viewed as being important.
• That at an appropriate time a series of meetings with local residents takes place to advise on such issues as the Opportunity Area, High Speed Train 2, the Powerday Planning Application when submitted and the development of a strategic plan for traffic congestion alleviation along the West Drayton Corridor.

Councillor Burrows listened to the concerns of the petitioners and responded to the points raised.  The petitioners were advised that a motion on the  HS2 had been agreed at Council on the 9 September 2010. This confirmed that  the rumours of a major hub development in West Drayton was just that a rumour.  Terminal 5 was fought by the Council as was the third runway and a sixth terminal , T5 was allowed by a Planning Inspector and a third runway and sixth terminal would not now go ahead.

The Core Strategy was such a large document covering the whole borough and it was never going to please every resident.  The 2 recommendations in the report will clarify the areas of growth in the HOA and focus on sustainable locations.  The recommendation would also update the HS2 section in the Core Strategy.  These amendments would be incorporated into the Cabint report when it was in November.

Resolved – That the Cabinet Member for Planning and Transportation noted the petition and:

1.         Instructs officers to make changes to the Core Strategy Key Diagram and Map 5.1 to clarify the areas for growth, and to add text to Table 5.3 which makes clear that growth in the Heathrow Opportunity Area will be focused on sustainable locations.  These changes will form part of the revisions to the draft Core Strategy which are due to be considered by Cabinet at its meeting in November.

2.            Instructed officers to update the High Speed Two sections in the Core Strategy.  This change will form part of the revisions to the draft Core Strategy which are due to be considered by Cabinet at its meeting in November.

Reasons for recommendation

To ensure the Core Strategy consultation process helps to shape the content of the document, and that comments and recommendations by interested parties are accommodated where appropriate.

Alternative options considered / risk management

The Cabinet Member may decide not to instruct officers to make any further changes to the Core Strategy as a result of the petitions.