Hammersmith and Fulham adopts White City Opportunity Area framework

The White City Opportunity Area covers around 110 hectares of land on the eastern edge of LBHF along the boundary with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The Framework sets out a 20-year vision for development within the area, including the creation of mixed-use commercial developments, new housing and employment opportunities.

One of the 'key objectives' set out in the document is to "encourage offices, hotels and flexible work spaces to shape and continue the growth of the economic sector" and to "capitalise on existing activities in the area and encourage spaces that can offer creative, media, bio-medical research and development industries that build on the presence of the BBC, Imperial College London, Westfield and Hammersmith Hospital".

The Framework says that the area has capacity for around 4,500 new homes in White City East and sets out to encourage "a broad range of tenures, house sizes and affordability, including housing that is affordable to young families, middle income earners who cannot afford to buy on the open market and key workers and households who are neither wealthy nor able to qualify for access to affordable rented".

"The Framework builds on the area’s rich heritage, which has influenced its character, and proposes exciting new green spaces, bridges to surrounding communities, thousands of new homes including much-needed affordable housing for families, and an inspiring new hub for creative industries, leisure, media and innovation anchored by some of the world’s greatest institutions including the BBC and Imperial College London," said Mayor of London Boris Johnson in the document's foreword.

"Although this is a technical planning document, it is in fact much more," said Council leader Nicholas Botterill. "Together with existing development plan policies, the Framework has the potential to improve the prospects of thousands of local people by creating significant housing and job opportunities, whilst delivering tangible benefits to the local neighbourhood."

"In times of austerity, it is absolutely vital that local authorities do their bit to stimulate their economies by attracting inward investment. This document sets out a framework to do just that, by providing guidance on how development should come forward on land to the east of Wood Lane and north of the existing Westfield Shopping Centre," Botterill said.