CD3 - Old Oak Development Programme 2025-26

1.1 On 27 March 2025, the OPDC Board approved £8.939m expenditure on the OPDC Directorate Programme to be funded from the 2025-26 revenue budget. This revenue budget is funded from GLA grant and rental income from OPDC’s land and property assets.

1.2 The Delivery Directorate Work Programme covers the following activities:

1.3 Old Oak Development Programme: Progressing plans for Old Oak (OO), including development of the Interim Business Plan (IBP), procurement of preferred partners for development and investment, full business case development work, further development of the illustrative masterplan along with the Infrastructure Delivery Plan and technical studies including planning, legal and development advice.

1.4 Old Oak Land Acquisition: Continuing work on private land assembly at OO, including work on the Compulsory Purchase Order workstream, due diligence activities to support site acquisition and progression of a relocation strategy for those affected.

1.5 Strategic Delivery Programme: A package of supporting activities that encapsulates work across the entire OPDC area. This includes early sites and project development, public realm projects, infrastructure, sustainability and decarbonisation as well as Meanwhile Use scoping and development; and programme management support. 

1.6 Inclusive Growth Programme: In line with the Mayor’s Growth Plan and local economic development ambitions, the programme will include commissioning employer-led skills programmes, careers-based work with schools, Creative Enterprise Zone and work with SMEs in Park Royal and surrounding areas.

1.7Asset Management: Asset and property management of land and property purchased by OPDC.

1.8 This decision seeks approval for expenditure for the package of work detailed above to support the OO Development Programme.

2.1 The OO Programme will be delivered by the OPDC Delivery Directorate. The overarching programme is formed of five workstreams as outlined in Table 1 with indicative budgets identified.

2.2 There will need to be some flexibility between the workstream allocations which will be managed by the Executive Director of Delivery working closely with the Finance
Team. The total approved budget for the Programme will not be exceeded without further approval.

2.3 Table 1 Old Oak Workstreams and indicative 2025-26 budget allocations:

Workstream 1: Interim Business Plan and scheme development

2.4 This workstream will support the finalisation of the draft IBP and continuation of scheme development activities. This will include further technical inputs on the illustrative masterplan, scheme development, sustainability and infrastructure requirements. This workstream will also include the development of the commercial and delivery strategies preparation of a full business case, externally provided communications, and programme and governance support. The budget identified here will fund commercial, legal and technical input and an indicative budget of £1,244,000 has been identified to support this workstream.

Workstream 2: Developer Partner Procurement

2.5 The budget identified will be used to support activities relating to the procurement of a preferred partner for investment and development. This will include commissioning support from specialist commercial, legal and market advisors to inform the procurement strategy and running the procurement exercise. The funding will be utilised for the preparation and provision of visual materials, the preparation and running of a microsite and for any technical support required for the evaluation of bids. An indicative budget of £1,600,000 has been identified to support this workstream.

Workstream 3: Public Land Agreement

2.6 An indicative budget of £200,000 has been identified for legal commercial and technical advice to finalise the Public Land Agreement. This Agreement will be put in place between the public bodies involved in OO. The budget will be spent on technical and legal fees.

Workstream 4: Funding and Finance Strategy

2.7 An indicative budget of £400,000 has been identified to support the continued development of the funding and finance strategy for OO. This includes provision for updates to the financial model, market advice on valuation and work on viability as the OO scheme continues to evolve and iterate.

Workstream 5: Planning Strategy

2.8 An indicative budget of £448,000 will be used to provide specialist planning and legal support to advance planning, alongside the partner procurement workstream. This includes funding for continuing the pre-application process with the Local Planning Authority and the production of materials needed for these meetingsas well as to support externally provided engagement with the local community groups as an important element of the planning strategy.

3.1 The objectives for the OO Development Programme covered within this decision for the financial year 2025-26 are as follows:
• To sign the Public Land Agreement with our government partners.
• To finalise the IBP securing OPDC and wider government approval and to allow for the information to feed into the development partner procurement.
• To undertake the technical, legal and commercial work required to commence development and investment partner procurement in 2025 and to then manage the procurement process through to its completion in 2026.
• Develop a clear commercial strategy, focus on project delivery and prepare a full business case for OO as required.
• To develop a clear planning strategy to support the OO scheme.

4.1 Work on OO supports OPDC’s strategic objectives by helping to deliver 25,000 new and affordable homes and 56,000 new jobs, and with our Local Plan in place. The OO development within the Opportunity Area is one of the largest single regeneration projects in London with the potential to deliver circa 8,000 homes and significant amounts of commercial space.

4.2 Significant progress been made at OO working collaboratively alongside public and private stakeholders. This will allow us to secure the right long-term investment and development partners to bring their commitment, expertise and capital to work with us to deliver our vision. Potential partners must align with our mission and share our lived values to collaboratively deliver exemplar, inclusive and sustainable regeneration.

4.3 The proposed work set out in this Decision Form will deliver focused workstream activities aligned to OPDC’s corporate objectives and the commitments made in the OO Outline Business Case, approved by Board and government in early 2024.

5.1 All contracts will be procured in accordance with OPDC’s Contracts and Funding Code utilising the agreed Contract Management Process.

5.2 Appointed consultants will report to a nominated Contract Manager in the OPDC Delivery Directorate. The Executive Director Delivery will maintain senior oversight across all contracts with support from the Programme Management Office. OPDC Contract Managers will provide regular monthly updates on progress, expenditure, risk and variations which will be managed in accordance with OPDC’s change control process. All new scopes of work, variations and call off agreements will be discussed and approved by the Director of Development or Executive Director Delivery.

5.3 Regular updates will be provided to the Delivery Programme Board as well as to OPDC Board and the Development Investment and Sustainability Committee.

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 GLA Group Responsible Procurement Policy sets out the GLA Group’s plans, ambitions and commitments for ensuring socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable procurement to delivery improved quality of life and better value for money for Londoners. As part of its procurement strategy, OPDC will ensure that bidders set out how they will embed EDI and enhance the social value outcomes in their delivery by submitting an EDI statement and action plan. Compliance and performance against the EDI action plan will then be monitored as part of the monitoring and reporting process.

7.3 OPDC has developed a suite of strategic documents to ensure an equitable and inclusive approach to regeneration, such as the Corporation’s Regeneration Strategy, the principles of which will underpin scheme development at Old Oak, along with our Sustainability Charter and supplementary Strategy, which aim to address deprivation and health inequalities and improve the quality of life for local people.

7.4 Under Public Sector Equality Duty it is a legal requirement for OPDC to have due regard in how their policies and decisions might impact affect EDI

8.1 This budget will allow for the continued development and progression of the OO scheme. It will help support OPDC’s strategic objectives in sustainability, inclusive growth, and design quality. OPDC will use best practice in social value delivery to ensure that the funding is used as a mechanism for delivering benefits to local communities and businesses.

8.2 Individual procurements that stem from this budget will have their own social values assessed as appropriate.

8.3 The key principles, processes and technical requirements needed to embed the highest standards of design and place-making and will begin to do this through the master developer procurement process.

9.1 There are no other considerations that need to be considered in the taking of this decision.

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 OPDC Board approved the expenditure of £3,892,150 for FY25/26 for the Old Oak Development Programme. This decision form sets out more detail on how this £3,892,150 budget will be utilised and managed.

11.2 Individual workstreams will require the appropriate decisions, approvals, detailed scope and outcomes. Given the nature of the Old Oak Development Programme, flexibility will be required within these budget amounts and across the full Delivery Directorate budget to support OPDC’s objectives. Finance will work closely with the Delivery Team to track, monitor, challenge spend and ensure that total budgets are not exceeded.

11.3 The CFO is a member of the Programme Board which provides regular oversight.

12.1 The report above indicates that the decision requested of the Chief Executive Officer falls with the OPDC’s object of securing the regeneration of the Old Oak and Park Royal area and its powers to do anything it considers appropriate for the purpose of its objects or purposes incidental to those purposes, as set out in the Localism Act 2011.

12.2 In taking the decisions requested, the Chief Executive Officer must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty, namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010).

12.3 Any services the subject of the expenditure should be procured in accordance with the OPDC’s Contracts and Funding Code. OPDC Officers should ensure that appropriate contractual documentation is to be executed by any service provider engaged by OPDC before the commencement of any services subject to the expenditure requested under this decision form.

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