H&F: "Auntie waves goodbye to BBC dream factory"

Link to LB of Hammersmith & Fulham

"Broadcasting from BBC TV Centre will make way for regeneration after 53 years of informing and entertaining the Great British public from White City.

"BBC TV Centre, which was nicknamed ‘the dream factory’, will finally close its doors on Easter Sunday (March 31).

"... The BBC sold the 14-acre site for £200million last year and there are now emerging proposals to build a hotel, flats, a cinema and offices on the site. The three main television studios will be refitted and leased out to production companies, including the BBC, from 2014. The site will also be home to the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide. If planning approval is granted, the redevelopment is set to see the forecourt opened up to the public."

Questions to the World King, Boris Johnson

Mayor answers to London

Light Rail at Old Oak Common

Question number	0950/2013
Meeting date	20/03/2013

Question by Andrew Boff

Will you support London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and Sir Terry Farrell’s proposal for light-rail (DLR) at Old Oak Common.

Answer by Boris Johnson

When I outlined my support for investing in a high speed rail network for the UK it was conditional upon a number of issues being adequately addressed. This included integrating the HS2 station at Old Oak Common with the rest of London’s transport network and it being planned to support the redevelopment of the surrounding area.

Whilst early HS2 designs include proposals for connections to Crossrail and the Great West Main Line, they do not include a connection to the Overground network, which is essential for connecting this new transport hub and major development zone to the rest of southwest and northwest London.

Reminder of the 14-platform station (even without London Overground and light-rail!) at Old Oak Common

(Click to enlarge)

(Source)

"Earls Court: relocation, complication and delay"

"Transport for London's interests in a controversial west London redevelopment plan illustrate the scheme's costly complexities"

Link to The Guardian

"What seems fairly plain is that TfL is in the handy position of having things that Earls Court developer Capco wants. And while it acknowledges a duty towards the opportunity area - TfL is, after all, part of the GLA group, and Boris Johnson chairs its board - it also needs to extract the best value it can from selling or leasing its land, given its own financial uncertainties. As a public body it needs to be seen to be doing that too.

Complicated, isn't it? Complicated in the way these big regeneration schemes tend to be. Complicated and costly too. Meanwhile, the events industry is up in arms about the threat to the Earls Court centre, and a large majority of residents of the two housing estates Capco and Hammersmith and Fulham want demolished would sooner be left alone. What a very messy business it all is.

Regeneration+Renewal: "Boris poised to launch Old Oak Common Development Corporation"

Link to Regeneration+Renewal

"The 2011 Localism Act gave the mayor the ability to create mayoral development corporations (MDCs), with powers including planning controls. ...

Yesterday, Sir Edward Lister, his chief of staff and deputy mayor for planning, told Planning that the possibility of creating a special delivery vehicle for the Old Oak Common area was being 'actively discussed' with the four boroughs that it falls into: Kensington & Chelsea, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Brent.

"Speaking at the Mipim property conference in the south of France, Lister said that, although the possibility of the sort of partnership structure employed in Nine Elms was also being considered, 'it was all pointing towards a development corporation'.

"In addition to an MDC’s planning powers, he said the vehicle would also need enterprise zone status, so that it could collect business rates to fund infrastructure investment. He said that the boroughs were 'all up for the discussion' about an MDC.

"The plan is that Old Oak Common station will act as an interchange between the new Crossrail line linking east and west London, and the High Speed 2 line linking London to the north.

Lister said that it would 'be as busy as Waterloo station'. He said that 'a new city' of 20,000 homes and bringing 50,000 jobs could be built on the site, which was roughly the same size as the Olympic Park and largely in public ownership." [Let's have a MDC at Brent Cross Cricklewood as well, then.]

"Revealed: HS2's £33bn budget already derailed before a track is laid"

Link to Independent on Sunday

"High Speed Two (HS2), the controversial rail link that will carve through hundreds of miles of countryside from London to Manchester and Leeds, is in crisis over its £33bn budget four years before construction even starts.

"Ahead of a judicial review decision expected this Friday – which could result in the whole project being re-examined – an IoS investigation can reveal that HS2 is plagued by flawed IT systems, rising construction costs and huge design rethinks.

"The Government's flagship transport project has already cost more than £250m, new figures have revealed. The cost is expected to soar beyond its existing budget, forcing a Department for Transport-backed team in charge of preparatory work – HS2 Ltd and its private sector partner, London Olympics programme manager CH2M Hill – to set up a committee to slash costs, as they scramble to keep the project under control.

"Yesterday, the HS2 chief executive, Alison Munro, conceded:

"We are seeking to design HS2 within the published estimates, but we know that construction here is more expensive than in other countries. We have set up an Efficiency Challenge group that is working with Infrastructure UK to explore ways of reducing the cost of delivering a high-speed rail network that will provide an engine for growth."

RTM: "Lords submit alternative route for HS2"

Link to web site

"An alternative proposal for how HS2 connects to Euston and HS1 could create better links within London with less local impact, Lords Bill Bradshaw and Tony Berkeley have argued.

"The pair have submitted an alternative option, which they have urged transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin to investigate as “a matter of urgency”.

"The route would include an east-west deep level tunnel with platforms, extending between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross. Fewer platforms would be needed and the route could use existing adapted Euston terminus, diverting WCML local suburban services into Crossrail near Old Oak Common."