New neighbourhood could be built in the heart of west London

By Jacob Phillips, Local Democracy Reporter

A new neighbourhood could be built in the heart of West London, including 4,500 homes and a new park.

Earl’s Court could be completely transformed if the new neighbourhood is built on the old Exhibition Centre and on the surrounding 40-acre site.

A new plan for the area has been shared by the Earl’s Court Development Company (ECDC) after two years of planning.

Plans for the site include landscaped piazzas, play spaces and public gardens as well as a park at the heart of the site that will be larger than Trafalgar Square.

The developers hope a research and development hub for green tech can be set up there and it could create up to 15,000 jobs.

Of the 4,500 homes at the site, the ECDC wants to make 35 per cent affordable, but Hammersmith and Fulham council has criticised some of the plans.

The council said too many of the buildings are too tall and there was not enough affordable housing at the site.

In recent years the site has been derelict, the exhibition centres closed in 2014 and were demolished in 2015 by the previous owners.

The ECDC estimates that closing the exhibition centres meant £2bn was lost a year.

But the company said its plan would bring £6.5bn of private investment. The company also predicted the site would add £1.2bn to the economy each year.

A planning application for the site is expected to be submitted by the end of the year.

Pictured top: The old Exhibition Centre in Earl’s Court (Picture: Fernandopascullo/Wikimedia Commons)