ADHS16 - Oaklands Rise continued venue hire 2025-26

1.1 Oaklands Rise is a Notting Hill Genesis housing development based in Old Oak Common, near Willesden Junction Station. The development includes a Boardroom which is situated in the main office and a community space called Oaklands Social (formerly The Lab), a popular community space which is used as a local café and hub from Thursday to Sunday.

1.2 These premises are managed by Bow Arts Trust, an arts education charity and social enterprise that supports local creative economies.

1.3 As part of our agreement with Bow Arts, Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) has use of both the Boardroom and Oaklands Social to hold site visits, on-site meetings and community events.

1.4 Our most recent agreement with Bow Arts started in October 2024 and comes to an end in October 2025. This decision seeks approval to renew this agreement through to October 2026 at a cost of £13,923.

1.5 DAR407 and DAR419 were each for £5,000 and covered two consecutive periods of 6 months from August 2022 to July 2023. DD 177 covered the period from October 2023 – October 2024. DD193 covered the period from October 2024 to the end of October 2025.

1.6 The money paid to Bow Arts is invested back into the community and helps the trust to run Oaklands Social as well as other community projects.

2.1 In order for OPDC to comply with statutory consultation requirements and the organisation’s community engagement strategy, a number of consultation and engagement events will be taking place in the remainder of 2025-26 and into 2026-27.These events will ensure that OPDC is consulting and engaging with key stakeholders from the business and local communities. It is important that where possible, we hold these events in OPDC area, and both Oaklands Social and the Oaklands Rise Boardroom provide us with the space to hold events locally.

2.2 Oaklands Rise is located in the heart of Old Oak within the OPDC area and using Oaklands Social and Boardroom space illustrates OPDC’s commitment to community engagement and working locally within the area.

2.3 OPDC’s agreement with Bow Arts ensures that we have access to both Oaklands Social, Boardroom and facilities on site to help facilitate meetings with key stakeholders, engagement events, consultations and drop-ins with the local community. This includes access to a rooftop space which provides panoramic views of the area, providing an effective illustration of the Old Oak opportunity during site tours.

2.4 The Boardroom is available on a booking system for OPDC staff to use on weekdays (Mondays to Fridays). Oaklands Social is available on a booking system for OPDC to use every day of the week (subject to availability).

3.1 Both venues will be used for meetings, consultations, engagement events and stakeholder meetings all of which will comply with the access requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

3.2 The use of the venue hire is for the following:

• public consultations
• workshops
• presentations
• community drop-ins
• meetings
• site visits.

3.3 Use of a community space within the local area helps OPDC to meet objectives set out in the Corporate Strategy 2024-26 and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, enabling colleagues across the organisation to engage with a wide range of local stakeholders and community members.

3.4 The cost represents good value for money, giving OPDC almost unlimited access to meeting rooms and touchdown spaces. Prior to this agreement, OPDC would hire out space in the local area on an individual event-specific basis with an average rate of £500 per day. Last year we used Oaklands Social every two weeks for our regular community drop-in sessions; for strategic engagement sessions including the launch of our Regeneration Strategy and Ideas Book; for Old Oak masterplan events; for planning consultation events; and for bespoke meetings with other stakeholders. We used the Boardroom for key strategic meetings including site tours with Members of Parliament, early market engagement meetings with potential development partners, and meetings and site tours with other stakeholders.

4.1 Using the space at Oaklands underpins our work with the local community as it allows us to have a strong presence in the area. OPDC’s Corporate Strategy and Management Plan states that we want to “increase [our] network of stakeholder and community relationships” through “meaningful and inclusive engagement and consultation” by “empowering everyone to have a say in the future of the area.”

4.2 Having access to the space at Oaklands has also allowed us to host a number of consultation events, which supports our corporate objectives to run inclusive and accessible engagement with the community. Oaklands Social is accessible for those with mobility impairments which ensures everyone in the community can attend in person events. It is located in Oaklands Rise which houses families, students and working professionals, with close proximity to public transport links.

4.3 Our agreement with Bow Arts responds to key deliverables highlighted in our Community Engagement Strategy (2024-26). Our community drop-in surgery is
held every two weeks at Oaklands Social and provides an opportunity for
focused discussions between the community and our engagement team on our work in and around the area. Another key deliverable outlined in the strategy is site visits which are held with residents and key stakeholders and hosted by OPDC. We use the Oaklands Rise Boardroom as a base and have access to the rooftop where we can show visitors our key development areas.

4.4 The Mayor has set out a priority of “making sure Londoners from all walks of life can enjoy arts and culture” which OPDC actively supports through our agreement with Bow Arts. The money we invest at Oaklands goes directly back into the community through Bow Arts which funds Oaklands Social, which hosts a number of exhibitions which celebrate and promote the rich diversity and culture in the area.

4.5 OPDC has moved to a new office in North Acton in October 2025. This has access to a bookable ground floor shared event space which has the potential to add a good North Acton venue option for hosting OPDC community events in the future. The space is currently being fitted out and is not available at the time of writing. OPDC is liaising with landlord City & Docklands to understand the policies and procedures that will govern the space, timescales for use and the charges that will apply. Should OPDC make use of this new space for community events in the future, it is likely that Oaklands, or another venue in close proximity, will still be of value, given its location in the heart of the Old Oak area, maximising accessibility to those on the doorstep of the regeneration.

4.6 The cost of our agreement with Bow Arts remains the same as our 25/26 contract – representing good value for money.

4.7 Given the large-scale nature of our area it is important for us to access to spaces across the area to ensure that all residents can visit their closest location

5.1 OPDC will enter into a year-long agreement with Bow Arts Trust. This agreement will be managed by the by the Interim Director of Communications Engagement and Strategy on a day-to-day basis, with regular liaison with Bow Arts and Notting Hill Genesis to allow OPDC access to the space.

5.2 There is an OPDC-wide booking system to use the space which all staff can use to book the Boardroom and Oaklands Social when available.

5.3 Prior to this agreement, corporate operations conducted a risk and health and safety assessment and concluded that the space was safe for use by staff, visitors and the local community.

6.1 There is a possibility of running into problems of overusing or underusing the space which means we face booking clashes or don’t receive full value for money through lack of use. The OPDC Communications and Engagement team controls the booking system and keeps a close eye on the use of the space to mitigate this risk.

6.2 There is a risk of health and safety issues, but we have mitigated this through carrying out a full and thorough risk assessment before entering into the agreement to ensure the space is safe to use.

6.3 A reputational risk is that we are regularly using a popular community resource and space. However, we will always ensure that we give priority to the community who need to book the space and have options for room hire elsewhere.
 

7.1 Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, OPDC must have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to the need to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

7.2 The venues that are used for all meetings, consultations and engagement events comply with the access requirements of the Equality Act 2010. The venue is based within and convenient to the diverse communities who live and work in the local area.

7.3 Since we started the agreement with Bow Arts, we have held several successful events within the space at Oaklands including community drop-in's and engagement workshops related to our work at Old Oak West (now referred to more simply as Old Oak), bi-weekly community drop-in surgeries, high profile MP and Councillor visits and regular meetings with developers and organisations interested in OPDC and our work. Oaklands Social is equipped with accessible access which ensures everyone in the community can attend in person events.

8.1 Community engagement – having access to this space allows us to undertake meaningful and participative long-term engagement to inform, involve and empower the communities and businesses we serve.

8.2 This money supports Bow Arts to run other projects in the space for the local community.

9.1 Communications and engagement. The Communications and Engagement team will manage the booking system to ensure that we are getting the best use out of the space through our drop-in surgeries, consultations, events and site visits.

9.2 Health and Safety A health and safety assessment was carried out by the Corporate Operations team before we entered into our agreement with Oaklands.

10.1 No one involved in the preparation or clearance of this Form, or its substantive proposal, has any conflict of interest.

11.1 The expenditure of £13,923 for the continued use of venue space at Oaklands Rise intended to facilitate site visits, meetings and community engagement events, will be funded from the 2025/6 Communications and Engagement budget(PA.0120.001)