About the Forum. We are a neighbourhood forum designated by OPDC in 2017 and redesignated in 2022. We hold meetings via Zoom each month, open to all our members. Our regular slot is at 6.30pm on the first Thursday of each month, for an hour or so. The Zoom link is circulated a few days in advance.
Our next Zoom meeting will by at 6.30pm Thursday 2nd October. Slides from our September meeting are now posted on this site.
Timelines for the completion of Old Oak Common station, and the start of HS2 services from Birmingham to Old Oak, remain uncertain. The HS2 projct is undergoing a ‘comprehensive reset’ the outcome of which is not due to be announced until early 2026.
Media reports have been giving an opening date of 2039 for the opening of the Birmingham to Old Oak HS2 line. This means that Old Oak Common station and its Elizabeth Line platforms may not be operational until that date, 13 years after the original planned date of 2026.
OPDC has been acquiring sites in the area around the planned station, and is seeking develop partners interested in investing on these sites and those held by the Department for Transport as HS2 construction compounds.
The OPDC Board on September 25th heard an update from HS2 on the ‘reset’ and noted that the CPO Order for acqusition of remaining sites needed for their Masterplan had been ‘made’ on September 12th. Property owners affected and wishing to object need to submit objections to the Secretary of State by October 8th . Details of the CPO process are on this page on Land Assembly on the OPDC website.
Our Forum continues to questions why OPDC consider that this next stage must be progressed ‘at pace’ rather than pausing to await decisions on the HS2 reset? In particular we think OPDC should await a Department for Transport analysis of whether the Elizabeth Line platforms at OOC station could come into use before HS2 is operational. Without access to the Elizabeth Line, or other transport improvements, parts of the masterplan area are seriously unsuitable for high-density car-free housing.
The first meeting of the new OPDC Residents Panel took place on September 8th. OPDC minutes of this meeting and a note from OONF to the Board can be viewed/downloaded here 06.01 Appendix 1. There was no discussion of this at the Board on the 25th,
Please email to oonforum@gmail.com to join our mailing/membership list. PDFs of the slides used at our meetings can be downloaded from this page on this website. You are welcome to join the Forum if you live or work in (or near) the area of north-west London for which the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation has been the local planning authority since 2015. Membership of the Forum is free and open to all.