Agenda item

Resolved

            That Cabinet

            Decisions:

i)        agrees to initiate the Southall Reset Programme priorities, actions and activities, set out in paragraph 3.13 Table 1 of the report, are progressed over the next four years to tackle the key challenges faced by Southall residents and businesses. 

ii)       agrees to set up a ‘community-led’ Southall Town Forum as integral part of helping to deliver and monitor the Southall Reset Programme and to ensure Council Plan 2022-26 priorities are fully integrated and achieved.

iii)      delegates authority to the Executive Director of Place following consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member of Good Growth to set up the Southall Reset Programme (including the Southall Town Forum) governance and take the necessary steps to lead on the implementation with the service leads, allocate resources, and monitor the progress until 2022-26.

iv)     agrees in principle to initiate the Southall Active Travel Project on the basis of that the South Road Bridge widening project described in paragraph 3.13 of the report, is replaced by alternative transport mitigation measures, for the reasons set out in Appendix 4 of the report, including significant escalation of costs, timescales and technical challenges regarding deliverability.

v)       agrees, that officers should seek consent from the GLA that the remaining GLA funding of £9.29m earmarked for South Road Bridge widening works should instead be allocated towards developing the alternative transport mitigation measures. These measures (the Southall Active Travel Project) would comprise a range of highway and public realm improvements and enhancements that would be developed in full engagement and consultation with the Southall residents and businesses, subject to the agreement and consent of the GLA and subject to the necessary planning consents being secured.

vi)     delegates authority to the Director of Growth and Sustainability following consultation with the Director of Housing, Cabinet Member of Good Growth and Cabinet Member of Climate Action to enter into any agreements with the GLA, TfL and other stakeholders and take any other steps necessary to facilitate the implementation and delivery of the Southall Active Travel Project in line with the draft Travel in Ealing Charter to be agreed with local resident

For Noting

vii)   notes a revenue budget submission as part of the Medium-Term Financial Plan and 2023/24 budget process will be made to enable the Southall Reset Programme to be delivered and monitored until 2024-26.

viii) notes the Southall Town Briefing headline economic performance, key challenges and opportunities included at Appendix 1 of the report, that support the need for the Southall Reset Programme and recommendations.

ix)    notes the Southall Baseline Study and Southall Employment Audit included at Appendix 2 and 3 of the report, respectively.

x)      notes the Southall summary from the Shaping Ealing engagement included at section 16 of this report caried out between November 2021 to May 2022, which has informed the Southall Reset Programme priorities.

xi)     notes the conclusions of the South Road Bridge widening report included at Appendix 4 of the report, that covers the options considered, stakeholder engagement and construction challenges to inform the recommendation.

xii)   notes the business case, outlined in the Officer’s Decision, to activate Southall Manor House included at Appendix 5 of the report for it to become a local employment and business hub to benefit the wider Southall community of local businesses and offer opportunities for local residents for secure employment.

Reason for Decision and OptionsConsidered

Southall was a cultural destination of national importance and was a growing neighbourhood. Significant new development of predominantly new homes was already underway and there were plans for a new commercial neighbourhood to complement the existing town centre. However, there remained much potential to bring ‘good jobs’ to the area to make the local economy more diverse and resilient and better capitalise on its proximity to Heathrow, the A312 and enhancing it as a destination for the South Asian food and retail.

Southall had experienced significant changes over the last decade, primarily due to the large-scale investment proposed and agreed through the planning system, of which a number of schemes had been implemented. Southall had also benefited from a multi-million-pound package of investment in infrastructure and the public realm following the publication of the ‘Southall Big Plan’ proposals in 2012. These schemes included: • Southall Broadway Boulevard public realm project, improving pavements and reducing pedestrian accidents by removing formal crossings and implementing a series of crossing boulevard points. • Southall Great Streets acupuncture points – implementation of new public spaces at Southall High Street (Lidl / Market Square), Southall Manor House Square, St John’s Church, St Anselm’s Church, outside the Dominion Centre • Improvements to South Road and implementation of a new public square north of Iceland and Quality Foods • The Implementation of the Merrick Road Foot and Cycle Bridge (due to open Autumn 2022) to provide a safe crossing away from South Road Bridge 4 • Investment in the Dominion Centre and the opening of the library there • The refurbishment of Southall Manor House and the disused Southall toilet block shortly to reopen as a cycling café • The provision of four new outdoor gyms in Southall’s parks as part of the Let’s Go Southall programme.

Despite the improvements and the public investment in the area, local people had expressed concerns about the significant amount of and affordability of new residential development, the relative lack of new employment space and job creation, and ongoing issues of congestion and fly tipping in the public realm. There was also concern about some of the heights proposed in new developments and pressure on local services. The recent Shaping Ealing engagement showed how concerned local people were about the future of Southall and their expectations for change, the findings of Shaping Ealng were set out in full in the engagement paragraphs 16.2 – 16.5 of the report.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Ealing had been one of England’s hardest hit boroughs where levels of pre-pandemic inequality and disadvantage had been exacerbated. A primary cause of this impact was the downturn in the aviation sector with Heathrow and its supply chain network of businesses being the largest source of employment for Ealing residents, most notably in the borough’s western communities in Southall. As a result, Ealing’s was ranked second highest in West London in terms of those on in-work benefits and Southall had London’s highest rate of furloughed residents.

Furthermore, the ongoing impacts of global factors, including COVID-19, cost of living crisis and BREXIT, has made live much harder for many of Southall’s residents and businesses and impacts on Southall’s local economy. In this context of rapid change and economic uncertainty it was critical to fully understand the current economic and social challenges that Southall residents and businesses were experiencing, and the council had therefore produced a comprehensive and holistic data document called the Southall Town Briefing included at Appendix 1 of the report.

The Southall Town Briefing was purposefully designed to inform local priorities - providing a robust and clear evidence-led starting point for the Southall Reset Programme. The Southall Town Briefing and associated evidence base studies has identified significant issues that would need a coordinated and sustained holistic response from the Council to fully support and enable a community-led approach to future change in Southall. However, it had also identified opportunities that could be harnessed by the Southall community over the coming years.

In early 2022, the Council commissioned two evidence based studies to provide the planning baseline of all development sites in Southall and undertake an audit of industrial areas. They were included at Appendix 2 and 3, of the report respectively and provided an up-to-date picture. The evidence base studies confirmed the limited provision of commercial and employment spaces in new developments and challenges faced by the existing businesses and industrial estates in Southall. Southall’s industrial estates with nearly 400 businesses and over 8 4,000 jobs, contributed greatly to the local economy and more widely to the West London. Given the finite supply of industrial land in the borough, these estates would benefit by protection at right locations, intensification to optimise the land available and enhancement through investments to make them future ready in meeting the needs of new businesses and provide good jobs.

The Southall Opportunity Area designation and OAPF were now 10 years old, and it was time for a new vision for Southall, in short it was time for a Reset of the Council’s priorities to better reflect the priorities of the local community today. Officers were engaging with the GLA to agree how the Southall OAPF could be reviewed in the light of the London Plan policies and the emerging Ealing Local Plan to guide the development of a new kind of urbanism for Southall that was based on strong urban design, place making and sustainability principles developed in conjunction with local people, local businesses, land owners and developers and all who had a stake in the future of Southall. More detailed masterplans and planning advice would be prepared for key areas of opportunity and change. This would be underpinned by the evidence base that was being developed for Ealing’s new Local Plan, which would have chapter dedicated to Southall and would be adopted in due course.

The key challenges outlined above pointed towards the need for a fundamental change in how the Council deployed its finite resources and targeted investment and enhancements in Southall, along with considering how it built a new relationship with Southall’s residents and businesses. This included having a full understanding and open recognition that some of the recent changes in Southall were perceived negatively by Southall’s community and therefore lessons must be learned about how future changes could enable more positive outcomes and feelings for the community. A reset meant the Council would support, encourage, and enable a community led approach to future development, investment and service delivery in Southall, where local people would have the best opportunity to shape the future direction of Southall.

While Southall already had a number of successful and innovative partnership projects underway including Lets Go Southall, Open Havelock, Southall Jobs Partnership and Southall Grand Union Canal Wellbeing Way, a longer term and co-ordinated overarching partnership between the council and the vast array of Southall stakeholders was necessary both to further develop a wider programme of improvements and to underpin the development of the New Local Plan. This would also enable the alignment of the Southall Reset Programme with the priorities set out in the Council Plan 2022/26.

Southall Active Travel Project background -South Road Bridge carried South Road (A3005) over the Great Western Main Line in Southall, London. The widening of the South Road Bridge was a S106 planning obligation on the Green Quarter site (formerly Southall Gas works) and was secured in 2010 in prior to Crossrail. However, in 2015, responsibility for the delivery of this project passed to the Council as part of the GLA’s ‘housing zone’ agreement, facilitated by the GLA funding of £11.875m. In September 2018, Cabinet agreed to appoint Balfour Beatty as the main contractor and proceed to commission the ‘preconstruction’ phase of work. The feasibility study was delivered in 2018 and the detailed design was carried out by Highways consultants for the contractor Balfour Beatty in 2019 and 2020. The construction contract offer price and programme was delivered by Balfour Beatty in December 2020 and was reviewed in talks with Network Rail on method, programme and cost in 2021. It highlighted the key concerns as below: • The total project cost estimated as £30m as against the available budget of £11.875 m.

 • The construction programme estimated to cover 5 calendar years, a significantly longer duration than previously anticipated in feasibility stage.

• The construction of the bridge widening would also require a continuous 16- month one way road closure over the bridge. This would cause significant congestion in the area for all highways users including local London Bus services with a further impact on a wider area of west London.

The Council worked with Balfour Beatty and Network Rail to identify efficiencies that could significantly reduce the length of the programme and design measures to reduce costs. However no significant measures were found that could be used on the project to enhance deliverability and value for money. To date, spend of £2.58 m of the budget was incurred towards the feasibility, detailed design, and pre-construction stages. Therefore, officers in discussion with lead Members considered that the Council should not commission any further technical or design work on this project until options for alternative measures had been considered to avoid further abortive costs.

Council officers subsequently engaged with the GLA, TfL and concerned developers to discuss the findings and explore alternative transport measures and ways the remainder Housing Zone Grant funding could be redeployed. The policy context both at the Council and TfL had changed since 2010, when the bridge widening was originally imposed as a planning obligation/ 13 condition. The Council and TfL now utilised the Healthy Streets Approach to improve air quality, safety, and reduce traffic congestion by supporting active travel measures. Poor air quality, safety, and congestion were big concerns for Southall residents and businesses, as evidenced by the recent Shaping Ealing engagement survey (see image 2 above), therefore the Southall Active Travel project was a good opportunity to directly respond to and resolve these concerns. Ultimately, the project would bring about a much wider range of benefits for the Southall community by making a larger area of Southall greener, healthier and a more pleasant place to live and work It would also make Southall’s high streets more attractive to visitors and help the local economy. Added to this the 2010 consent did not assume the delivery of the Elizabeth Line, which was now expected to open fully in 2023. This meant that the travel assessment today would be undertaken very differently to how it was undertaken in 2010 with more focus on public transport and active travel. These priorities also aligned with the Council Plan priority of Climate Action. Therefore, it was recommended that an alternative package of active travel measures should now be developed for Southall, providing enhanced infrastructure for safer walking and cycling routes complementary to the Let’s Go Southall social movement, whilst still achieving the mitigation sought via the original bridge widening S106 obligation/condition and also still supporting the delivery of planned new homes in Southall.

As part of these alternative active travel measures, a range of options would be tested and form part of the engagement plans. In line with the Southall Reset ambitions, the engagement approach would follow the Council’s draft Travel in Ealing Charter, currently in draft and provided an opportunity to all road users, residents and businesses alike to influence the proposals. The Let’s Go Southall programme continued to focus on changing attitudes and behaviours towards physical activity amongst Southall residents by encouraging greater walking and cycling. It was helping to drive local demand for enhanced active travel measures and safe walking and cycling routes. The engagement would make use of the Let’s Go Southall social movement investment and community resource, an example of this is the draft Travel in Ealing Charter work for Southall hosted and co-designed by the Let’s Go Southall Active Communities Team.

GLA officers had indicated that in principle the Housing Zone funding could be used to develop the alternative packages of active travel measures, preliminary designs and stakeholder engagement. However, the GLA required the confirmation that the funding could be committed by Spring 2023 and fully spent by March 2025. There would also be a number of other tests and internal decisions by the GLA to confirm the availability of this funding package, which was currently being discussed between officers at Ealing and the GLA. Cabinet’s approval and delegated authority as worded in recommendations sought to confirm the Council’s commitment and confidence over the delivery of active travel measures. Although officers would still need to work to get this package agreed and funded by the GLA, or by alternative funders should this option not be available

It should also be noted that in addition to the GLA agreement to repurpose the Housing Zone funding, it would be necessary to seek a variation to the conditions attached to the planning permission and associated s106 to reflect the alternative proposals. Any decision to proceed with the alternative measures was therefore also subject to permission for that variation being secured.