The Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum began meeting as an ‘interim’ body in early 2016. It was formed by a number of residents association within and on the borders of the Old Oak area. Several of these associations had already been working together in responding to proposals from HS2 and in lobbying Parliament on the details of the HS2 Bill, now the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017).
Notes of meetings of the interim forum are posted on this website under ‘Newsletters and Meeting Notes‘. Over the past 2 years, the focus of activity by the interim forum has been on:
- achieving designation by OPDC in order to gain the statutory powers to prepare a neighbourhood plan under the 2011 Localism Act
- raising awareness of local people on the implications of future plans for Old Oak
- talking to landowners and developers about their own proposals (QPR, Cargiant/London and Regional Property, Fruition Properties, Aurora, City and Docklands Management Ltd)
- responding to OPDC consultations on the Regulation 18 and Regulation 19.1 versions of the OPDC Local Plan
- meeting with other local organisations in Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham under the auspices of the Grand Union Alliance
Following formal designation by the OPDC in February 2018, the inaugural meeting of the Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum was held on May 15th 2018. This meeting adopted a constitution and elected a management committee with the following members:
Chair: Mark Walker (also chair of the Island Triangle Residents Association)
Secretary: Ewa Cwirko Godyka
Treasurer: Theresa Magee
Cllr Kate Crawford (East Acton ward councillor)
Robert Pirie
Amanda Souter (also chair of the Wells House Road Residents Association) and until November 2018 the appointed community representative on the OPDC BOARD
Clara Curry
Stewart Dalby (President of the Friends of Wormwood Scrubs)
Marie Somerville
Shauna McGill)
The Forum has been advised and supported since late 2015 by Henry Peterson, chair of the St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Forum in neighbouring North Kensington, in a voluntary capacity. Henry is a MHCLG Neighbourhood Planning Champion and co-convener of NeighbourhoodPlanners.London.
The interim forum received two grants from the MHCLG national support programme for neighbourhood planning, of £2,615 and £850 in 2016 and 2017. These funds were used to carry out consultation work on two rounds of public consultation undertaken by OPDC and by LBHF in response to designation applications from the Forum.