Land Securities is the company behind plans to develop the Kodak site (in neighbouring Marlborough ward) and Kodak Sports Ground (in Headstone North).
Throughout March 2011, Land Securities and PPS held workshops for residents and other interested parties at the Kodak Zoom Leisure Centre on Harrow View. They involved:
* Land Securities private development company www.landsecurities.com
* PPS communication consultants www.ppsgroup.co.uk
* BDP masterplanning architects www.bdp.com
* Halcrow Yolles sustainability consultants www.halcrow.com/halcrowyolles
* Hunt Dobson Stringer regeneration consultants www.huntdobsonstringer.com
“Workshops add local knowledge”
For the latest proposals see www.harrowview.info
Timetable
July 2010 - Land Securities and Harrow Council sign a Memorandum of Understanding
November-December 2010 – public exhibitions and consultation
March 2011 - workshops
June 2011 - local exhibitions of draft masterplan
Q3 2011 – outline planning application to Harrow Council
Q1 2012 – planning approval
Q2 2012 –development starts
At 57 acres, covering both the Kodak main site and the sports ground (Zoom Leisure Centre on Harrow View), this is the largest development opportunity in the borough. Kodak has already cleared some areas of the site. The remaining buildings are quite old and specific in use; it seems likely that they will be demolished. Kodak will probably remain on-site in a reduced form and the sports ground area is likely to come up for development first. There are no fixed plans yet but there will probably not be a prison or waste centre
Some ideas and comments from the workshops
Business/Industrial
* light industrial facilities along the railway line for small to medium enterprises
* possible direct linkage to the rail station
* basic shell incubator units suitable for a variety of start-ups
* flexibility in design to follow changes in the market
* flexibility in size to encourage firms to stay in Harrow as they expand
* providers of skilled jobs preferred
* little enthusiasm for offices; Harrow already has empty blocks
* want to attract high-class employment
* shops should be for residents not as a destination
Residential
* people are living longer and are single longer; more homes are needed, even without population growth
* mixed density; flats, maisonettes and three- to five- bedroom houses
* a high proportion of family homes, perhaps some flats suitable for families
* Lifetime Homes, adaptable to changing needs of occupants
* planners must understand local demographics
* retirement homes
* the edge of the development should be houses, rising to higher buildings
* the highest building now onsite is the equivalent of seven housing stories
* not a grid layout but crescents and mews developments
* a mix of tenures, of private and rental
* high quality employee housing
* we want to attract permanent proprietors, not buy-to-let
* opportunity for gentrification of what was once a stylish area
* there is a market for flats for commuters to central London and for “empty nesters”
* should there be a mix of styles or should there be a theme for whole site?
Facilities
* Police station near to the Crown Court
* recreation areas for children, youth centre for older children and young adults
* cafes and attractive meeting spaces open to the general public
* nursery and healthcare provision (a polyclinic?) within easy reach
* perhaps a sports centre, theatre, multi-use community hall
* there should be a Kodak museum
Environment
* it should be a “large village” in scale
* keep the Kodak chimney as landmark.
* a Green Link to separate cars from pedestrians and cyclists
* there should be a new access to the Headstone Manor site at the back of Zoom sport ground
* a link to the London Loop [the London Outer Orbital Path walkway] and the Green Belt
* cycle paths, pedestrian-friendly
* design for small children and the mobility-impaired
* water features
* green space: should this be mainly on the sports grounds or distributed across the site?
Sustainability
* energy –sustainability
* mixed-source energy
* district heating / combined heat and power for groups of houses
* ground source heat pumps
* “grey” water re-use systems
Some problems and issues raised
* there is some contaminated land around the base of the Kodak chimney
* drainage is poor towards the Headstone Manor site and the Yeading Brook
* there is a WWI bunker near the rail line and Artesian wells on the site
* the rail bridge over Headstone Drive is a road bottleneck and is “not welcoming” as gateway to the area
* several developments in Harrow have started and stalled
* can the neighbouring Waverley Industrial Estate and the developers of the Goodwill To All pub site be involved?
Comments
The development as a whole should serve as an impetus to revitalise the Wealdstone shopping area, not forgetting the Quadrant shopping area at the crossing of Harrow View/Headstone Gardens – Headstone Drive and the few shops further up on Harrow View. Should there be a supermarket on the site? a shopping mall? Retail should complement – not replace – existing local shops.
Harrow and Wealdstone station is much undervalued. It is a fifteen-minute journey to London Euston. The station is accessible (Harrow on the Hill is not). There are easy links outward to Birmingham, Coventry etc.
There should be new access routes to and across the site. We want to attract tourists on day-trips from central London to the Harrow area: Headstone Manor and beyond to Pinner Park with its possibility of a new community farm; Harrow school; West House in Pinner Memorial Park.
The site should be part of a green network; it lies in a “green bowl”. Bentley Priory, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Headstone Manor, Wembley Arch Belmont Hill are all visible from high points on the site
