Wornington Green

Kensington and Chelsea Council accepts that Wornington Green Estate in North Kensington needs to be redeveloped if its 538 homes are to be brought up to the Government's 'decent homes' standard.

The idea of regenerating the 1960s estate, which is owned by the Kensington Housing Trust (KHT), have been around for many years. In fact in 2006 the Council listed the case for redeveloping the estate as one of its 21 key projects for renewing the borough.

To ensure that the redevelopment delivers quality of life improvements, the Council consulted local people and developed a planning document called the Wornington Green Supplementary Planning Document (SDP) that sets out the essential ingredients an application from KHT must contain.

For the purpose of the SDP, the site is defined as wider than just the housing estate. It includes surrounding land so that the maximum advantage can be had from the regeneration proposals.

Central to the planning brief is the Council's aim of ensuring that Wornington Green is a great place to live.

A key priority outlined in the SDP is the Council's wish to keep the community together and ensure that any of the 1,700 tenants who want to remain on the estate will be guaranteed a new home there.

Given the scale of the redevelopment, which is likely to take at least 10 years, the planning brief also seeks to minimise any disruption for residents. It requires that the work should be phased in such a way that the majority of residents should only have to move once – i.e. from their current home to their new one on the redeveloped estate.

The consultation with local people showed that many were concerned about the future of the local park, Athlone Gardens. To tackle that concern, the SDP specifies that a new park at least the same size and better in quality than the existing Athlone Gardens should be provided as part of the new development.

The planning brief states that while the work is going on KHT must provide a good quality open space that is at least half the size of the current park.

It also dealt with the future of the Venture Centre and Kensington and Chelsea College.

Although the Venture Centre is the local community centre, it serves an area wider than the Wornington Green Estate and is used by approximately 800 to 1,000 people each week.

The Council will require it to be replaced and improved as part of the redevelopment and has said that if it needs to be relocated, the Venture Centre should only move once.

The issue of parking spaces is also dealt with, and existing tenants who currently have an off-street parking space will be offered a new off-street parking space in any new development.

It is the Council's view that any redevelopment will need to include private market housing in order for the project to be financially viable.

To achieve planning permission, KHT will have to make a social and economic case for redevelopment over and above simple renovation.

Kensington and Chelsea Council has received a planning application from KHT which is likely to go before the Council's Major Planning Development Committee in Spring 2010.

To view the application visit www.rbkc.gov.uk/worningtongreenapplication.