Mayor Intervenes in Latest Row over Future of Earls Court

---

Sadiq Khan backs call for West Kensington estates to be handed back to council

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has stepped into the latest row over the future of the Earls Court development and the West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates.

The Mayor says he has had long held 'serious concerns' over the giant £12 billion scheme to redevelop 77 acres of land in Earl’s Court, including the two housing estates.

And he is backing H&F Council's demand that the estates should be 'handed back entirely” to the Labour run council.

They were sold in 2012 to the scheme’s developer Capital & Counties, or Capco, for £110 million by the then Conservative-run Hammersmith & Fulham council.

The Mayor says: "I have long had serious concerns about the direction of the Earl’s Court scheme, particularly its inclusion of the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates.

"A positive way forward would involve new plans that exclude the estates, and offer more housing, particularly more social rented and other genuinely affordable homes.

"The GLA would review any such plans at the point at which they were referred. To ensure my concerns are addressed, my view is that ahead of alternative plans being progressed and determined, the estates should be handed back entirely to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham."

Capco revealed last week that it is in talks with Hong Kong property developer Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings about a possible sale of most of its Earl’s Court.

The first part to be developed, Lillie Square in Fulham's Seagrave Road, would not be included.

H&F Council responded by threatening legal action, saying in a statement that it had launched an investigation into the original sale of the the estates "and already have independent financial advice that the 2012 decision was inadequate in several respects".

The council added: "This could lead to legal action being taken, which could lead to criminal prosecution."

A Capco spokeswoman said the sale of the estates "was entered into freely by LBHF and followed all necessary process in the appropriate way, including sign off by LBHF’s Cabinet and the Secretary of State."

Meanwhile campaigning group Save Earls Court Supporters Club, made up of residents and local business owners, also staged a protest by projecting a series of messages along with black and white film clips from Earls Court’s past on the perimeter of the development.

They were also calling on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to listen to the west London community and to intervene.

Residents of the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates, which they have dubbed the People's Estates have been fighting a long campaign to save their homes from being bulldozed by Capco. As they say on their website: " Back in 2011, our community put on the boxing gloves. We’ve not taken them off since!"

You can read this full story here.

November 20, 2018