Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Old Oak West stretches from Willesden Junction station in the north, to North Acton in the south and to the east it includes the planned Old Oak Common HS2/Elizabeth Line and national rail station.

It comprises the majority of our existing residential neighbourhoods, large publicly owned areas of land including development sites and some privately owned development sites. 

It includes areas of land in the London Borough of Ealing, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and smaller portions of land in the London Borough of Brent. It covers portions of the Old Oak Neighbourhood Area and Harlesden Neighbourhood Area.

A Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) can provide additional information and guidance to explain how planning policies in OPDC’s Local Plan can be successfully implemented. SPDs cannot create new planning policies. 

OPDC is preparing a series of SPDs, including this Old Oak West SPD.

Currently, Old Oak West is not a defined area within the OPDC Local Plan. To help deliver comprehensive and coordinated development, the SPD will coordinate Local Plan policies specific to Old Oak West and provide supplementary guidance based on feedback from the community and further analysis.

The Local Plan sets out parameters for development in Old Oak West comprising:

• A minimum of 6,905 new homes
• 50% affordable housing overall
• 25% family sized homes
• A minimum of 268,540 sq m of commercial or industrial floorspace
• Approximately 22,365 jobs
• Social infrastructure including health, education and community services
• 30% public open space requirement on all new developments including two new 2-hectare parks
• Net gain in biodiversity and protection of wildlife
• New walking and cycling routes through the area, including new access across the Grand Union Canal
• New Old Oak Common Station and improvements to North Acton and Willesden Junction Stations
• New and improved bus routes
• Zero carbon development and climate resilience
• Support of the circular economy, recycling and minimising waste
• Minimising noise and improving air quality
• Generally, 8 to 12 storeys, with increased heights next to railways and lower heights near to existing residential neighbourhoods
• Tall buildings in specified locations within the following places and predominantly in the ranges of:
  • Old Oak South – 20 to 30 storeys and up to 45 storeys close to the Old Oak Common Station 
  • Acton Wells – 20 to 35 storeys
  • Old Oak Lane and Old Oak Common Lane – 20 to 25 storeys
  • Channel Gate – 20 to 30 storeys  

The Draft Old Oak West Supplementary Planning Document will provide supplementary planning guidance to OPDC’s Local Plan. The document is intended to provide clarity to local people, applicants, developers and wider stakeholders on how OPDC will implement the policies in the Local Plan and will be a material consideration for the determination of planning applications.

All responses will be considered by OPDC planning officers to help shape the final Old Oak West SPD. 

We will publish each individual comment and provide a specific officer response to each comment setting out whether or not it has resulted in a change to the SPD and the reasoning for the officer response. These will be published in a table within a Statement of Consultation and presented to both OPDC’s Planning Committee and OPDC’s Board for consideration in adopting the SPD. 

When adopted, the Old Oak West SPD will be a material consideration when determining all planning applications in the OPDC area, including those delegated to the London Boroughs of Brent and Ealing to determine on behalf of OPDC. 

All the consultation documents are available on this webpage.

Paper copies can also be viewed at the following locations: 

• OPDC Offices, 1st Floor, Brent Civic Centre, HA9 0FJ 
• Wembley Library, Brent Civic Centre, HA9 0FJ 
• Harlesden Library, Craven Park Road, NW10 8SE 
• Brent Hub Community Enterprise Centre, 6 Hillside, NW10 8BN 
• The Collective Old Oak, Nash House, Old Oak Lane London NW10 6FF 

Paper copies can be made available on request by contacting OPDC. 

We can also provide copies of consultation documents in different languages and/or Braille. Please get in contact and we’ll be happy to help.