Central London’s biggest housing development of the year has been unveiled – a £2 billion, 2,500-plus new home scheme to be built beside the Grand Union Canal in Ladbroke Grove.
Traditionally, the site has been used as the starting point of the Notting Hill Carnival. It is where the Mas Bands assemble and the early morning j'ouvert – literally “opening of the day” – celebration to launch carnival is held, with revellers meeting at dawn to dance, drink and cover each other in oil and powdered paint.
The developers have pledged that carnival will become a “close and long-term partner” even once the site is full of upscale homes.
A bigger concern for Irish house builder Ballymore and supermarket giant Sainsbury’s, which are partnering on the scheme, will be reaction to its offer of low cost homes for local people.
Of 2,519 new homes planned it says that “at least” 500 will be affordable and aimed at local buyers and renters currently priced out of the housing market.
That equates to around 20 per cent.
Mayor Sadiq Khan’s draft new London Plan sets out a strategic target of 50 per cent affordable housing in new developments, and most developers currently offer around 35 per cent.
Speaking before the planning application was formally submitted Roger Roberts, chairman of local residents group The Golborne Forum, said it would be keeping a “close eye” on this issue, as well as the impact on local traffic levels.
There will also be concern about the fate of organisations currently based on the site.
As well as a supermarket, there is the Canalside Activity Centre, which provides low cost children’s sports, and several charities, including African Women Care, which focuses on domestic violence, plus educational charity Urbanwise London.
The new development will include a new community hub, which the developers say will have “spaces for businesses, charities and community groups to flourish in affordable workspace”.
The 19 acre development site will also include two parks and open spaces, together totalling more than eight acres, a restored canal basin, plus a high street with 90,000sq ft of local shops, cafes, and restaurants
For transport, the site’s junction with Ladbroke Grove will be upgraded, new cycle paths installed, and links to the canal tow path created. The nearest station, Kensal Green, is a half-mile walk away.
The development site includes not only the Sainsbury’s supermarket but a scrap metal yard, and a former gas works which has been closed to the public for more than four decades. The developers calculate that 2,000 permanent jobs will be created by the project, bringing £37m into the local economy each year.
“Kensal Canalside is one of the last remaining major brownfield sites to be developed in London and the largest in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,” said John Mulryan, Group Managing Director, Ballymore.
“There are over 3,000 households on RBKC’s housing waiting list. Our proposals will make a positive and significant contribution towards reducing that figure.”
