This consultation exercise was due to conclude on September 8th 2026, but has taken an unexpected turn. At its open meeting on September 8th, Forum members will be recommended to agree to a 2 week extension and a revised closing date of September 22nd.
This extension is for several reasons, including the new National Planning Policy Framework which came into instant effect on August 17th, and the consultation launched by the Mayor of London on a full draft of the next London Plan. Both these publications have significant implications for OPDC and for the content of a neighbourhood plan for Old Oak.
A third reason needs a brief explanation. The agenda for the OPDC Planning Committee was published on September 3rd. The report from the Director of Planning covered the subject of the Draft Neighbourhood Plan and said at paragraph 5.2 OPDC, in its capacity as LPA, has submitted a response to the Forum’s consultation. OPDC’s Delivery Directorate has submitted a separate response, reflecting its role as a landowner.
Our Forum had received no such responses at this time. OPDC officers subsequently explained at the OPDC Residents Panel on September 3rd that this wording was used because the September 8th deadline for the Forum’s consultation had not allowed these consultation resp0nses to be discussed at the Planning Committee on the 10th. The responses had therefore been circulated informally to Planning Committee and Board members (including the Leaders of Ealing, Brent and Hammersmith & Fulham). The Committee on the 10th would be asked to ‘note’ these retrospectively rather than to discuss and approve/amend them.
We explained at the Residents panel that this was an unsatisfactory process. No request had been for submitting committee-approved responses a few days late. Residents of North Acton ward in Ealing (and in the wider area) want to hear the views from Ealing, and of councillors from Brent and LBHF on the Planning Committee, on the proposeals in the draft neighbourhood plan.
As explained in previous posts on this website, the neighbourhood plan proposes lower housing densities and building heights than those assumed in OPDC’s 2026 Masterplan Framework.
Hence an extended deadline for responses makes sense from several viewpoints.
OPDC’s consultation response (in its role as local planning authority) was received by the Forum on the morning of September 8th. It is a 37 page document as posted below: As of the afternoon of September 8th a late addendum report has been added to the published agenda of the Planning Committee on the OPDC website, including this response.
The legal opinion from Richard Moules KC, referred to in the response, dates from April 2026 and is already posted on this website. The Forum continues to disagree with OPDC on its methodology for calculating a Indicative Housing Requirement figure.
This remains the most critical issue of those that an independent Examiner will need to decide, as an when a revised Submission version of the Draft Neighbourhood Plan reaches the examination stage in the process of preparation and adoption. Meanwhile the OPDC response identifies numerous other aspects of the Pre-submission Drfat with which the planning authority finds fault for one reason or another.
It is not unsual for local planning authorities to resist proposals in a neighbourhood plan, and to challenge the extent to which policies and proposals in the adopted Local Plan can be varied. In this case the OPDC Masterplan Framework is a non-statutory document which has not gone through the stages of public consultation, examination by a Planning Inspector, and subequent adoption. So the situation is an unusual one.
Following a 2 week extension to the Pre-submission consultation, the Forum will be revising the content of its Draft Plan. A finalised Submission Version will be submitted to OPDC along with the required Consultation Statement and Basic Conditions Statement.
In the meantime comments and responses from local residents and businesses to the Draft Plan (available to read and download on this website) are very welcome, before 22nd September 2026. These can include views on OPDC’s response as planning authority. The promised separate response from OPDC as landowner and delivery agency has yet to be received by the Forum (as of 8th September),
This is becoming something of a David and Goliath battle between the Forum and a well resourced Development Corporation.