Harrow View East

Environmental Statement Volume 1 – Non Technical Summary Doc No: 658382-D-002 Issue: N/A Rev: 4 Date: June 2015

Env i ronmen ta l S ta temen t Vo lume One – Non-Techn i ca l Summary

Harrow View East

Prepared for

LS Harrow Properties Ltd

June 2015

Elms House

44 Brook Green London W6 7EF

Document History Report title: Harrow View East

Environmental Statement, Volume One – Non-Technical Summary

Client: LS Harrow Properties Ltd

Report Number: 658382-D-002

This document has been issued and amended as follows:

Rev Date Description Created by Verified by Approved by

0 27-04-15 First draft for CBRE review J Walker RP RP

1 07-05-15 Second Draft for Legal Review J Walker RP RP

2 20-05-15 Legal review comments incorporated.

Figure 1 and 2 updated.

For final review.

J Walker RP RP

3 1-06-15 Final J Walker

4 01-06-15 Figure 2 updated.

Final

RP RP RP

© CH2MHill 2015.

DOCUMENT REF : 658382-D-002 REV 4 COPYRIGHT 2015 BY CH2M HILL

Non-Technical Summary

Introduction LS Harrow Properties Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Land Securities Group PLC) is proposing to submit an application for outline planning permission for revised redevelopment proposals for the Kodak site, to be known as Harrow View East, in the London Borough of Harrow.

An Environmental Impact Assessment has been carried out to comply with the EU Directive on Environmental Impact Assessment and the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011.

The results of the Environmental Impact Assessment have been presented in an Environmental Statement. This Non-Technical Summary is Volume One of the Environmental Statement. It provides a summary of the key findings of the Environmental Statement.

The Site An aerial photograph of the site (outlined in red) is shown in Figure 1. It is 16.65 hectares in size and consists of Kodak’s existing factory operations and areas of cleared brownfield land where industrial buildings have been demolished. The site boundary is formed by Harrow View to the west, Headstone Drive to the south and the West Coast Main Line to the east. The surrounding area is mainly residential land with some retail and industry.

Figure 1 Aerial Photograph of the Proposed Site

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The Development Proposals All of the existing buildings and structures except the chimney and part of the powerhouse that remain on site will be demolished and the site will be developed to provide a residential-driven scheme, with employment and associated uses.

The development will include:

• up to 1,800 residential homes

• senior living accommodation and assisted living care homes

• employment space for offices, small and medium sized enterprises, logistics and storage businesses

• retail spaces for shops, restaurants, cafes, food takeaways, drinking establishments, offices or financial and professional uses and a food store

• leisure and community uses including:

- a leisure centre

- a community centre

- a health centre with provision for doctors surgery, dentists, crèche and a pharmacy

- a community facility associated with the Kodak chimney which may include a café

• a primary school

• open space with public areas and areas for private or semi-private gardens

An illustrative land use masterplan is shown in Figure 2.

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Figure 2 Illustrative Masterplan of the Development (Ground Floor)

One of the key aspects of the design is the green link through the development, linking Headstone Drive to Harrow View with spurs between adjacent buildings. The green link will combine elements for pedestrians, cyclists, residents, shoppers and people working within the development, providing outdoor amenity, recreation space, educational opportunities around the new school and space for relaxation. Native trees will be planted to provide visual interest, shade and benefits for wildlife. Ponds and rain-gardens will provide both flood attenuation and wildlife interest.

New streets will be created, together with car parking (along streets, below the residential buildings and in a multi-storey car park), highways improvements, supporting infrastructure and an energy centre.

It is expected that the development will be built in four phases over approximately nine years, starting in spring 2017 and completing in 2026, although the timing will depend on when Kodak leaves the site.

Because the development proposal is at an outline stage, many of the design details will be determined later through Reserved Matters to the planning consent. Each Reserved Matter will be approved by the planning officers of Harrow Council before the development goes ahead. In addition, all construction activities will be managed through a Construction Environmental Management Plan to ensure that measures to protect the surrounding environment and the community are fully implemented.

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Alternative Options Considered The Mayor of London has stated that 30,000 new homes are needed across London. There is very little land available in Harrow for redevelopment on the scale needed to provide its share of this number of homes. The development site is the largest brownfield site in Harrow that is likely to become available for redevelopment in the near-future, and it was named by the Mayor of London in March 2015 as one of nine Housing Zones in London. As a result, no alternative sites were considered for the development.

Many variations on the mix of land uses and layout within the site have been considered and discounted during the master-planning process. The layout and height has been influenced by the nature of the site itself and its surroundings so that the tallest buildings are located towards the east, backing onto the industrial estate and railway line. Alternative landscaping strategies, street arrangements, energy strategies and biodiversity strategies have also been considered. The final plans are the product of detailed discussions with Harrow Council, the Greater London Authority and public consultation which have been carried out over a number of years, including discussions carried out for a previous planning application of the site that was granted planning permission in 2012.

Main Findings of the Environmental Impact Assessment The Environmental Impact Assessment has been based on an outline design within specified parameters that set the maximum area for each land use and minimum and maximum dimensions for the proposed buildings. Because of the outline stage of the design, there is still some flexibility in how design may be developed during the detailed design stage. The Environmental Impact Assessment has been based on the worst case parameters to ensure that no likely significant impacts are overlooked.

The main findings of the Environmental Impact Assessment are summarised below.

Air Quality

The construction works are likely to generate dust in the local area. This will be controlled by a range of dust suppression measures included within a Construction Environment Management Plan which will be agreed with the local planning authority in advance of the relevant construction activities. With these measures, the effects will be insignificant.

The development will increase traffic on local roads by a small amount compared to existing levels. These changes will lead to imperceptible or small increases in concentrations of fine particulates and nitrogen dioxide (pollutants most commonly associated with vehicular traffic that can be detrimental to health) for people living and passing near to the development. Taking account of expected improvements in vehicle emissions in future years, these changes will be negligible or slight adverse and overall the impacts will be minor adverse. Again taking account of expected improvements in vehicle emissions in future years, air quality for new residents and people using the development has been shown to be below air quality objectives, even at worst case locations.

The proposed development has mitigation in place to ensure that it will be air quality neutral and is thus compliant with Policy 7.14 of the London Plan.

Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

There are no legally protected features of archaeological or historic interest on site. Headstone Manor is the nearest site of interest (about 370 meters to the west). This is a Scheduled Monument of national interest, with a number of associated listed buildings. No impact on this site is envisaged.

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The Citadel (also known as Station Z) is a locally listed World War II bunker that remains below ground towards the east of the site. This will be left intact and access will be maintained, although development will take place above it. The structure of the bunker will be subject to historic building recording to preserve the feature by record.

The power house and its associated chimney, which is a prominent feature of the site, will be retained and used as a café and other community uses. This will retain some of the historic character of the historic factory site.

A programme of recording will be carried out to ensure that any features of interest are noted.

Biodiversity

There are no legally protected sites of biodiversity interest within 2 kilometres of the site. The closest sites are Bentley Priory Site of Special Scientific Interest about 2.6 kilometres to the north-west and Harrow Weald Site of Special Scientific Interest about 2.8 kilometres to the north. There are also a number of Local Nature Reserves at similar distances from the site. None of these will be affected.

The site itself contains bare ground, tarmac, amenity grassland, some trees, but little natural vegetation. Specialist surveys have identified that there is no evidence of protected species within the site and the site is of low interest to biodiversity.

Consequently, no significant impact on biodiversity is expected, although there will be a loss of some mature trees and shrub, which could provide habitat for nesting birds. Measures will be put in place to avoid any adverse effect on these during construction.

The open space provided within the development will provide new planting with native trees, shrubs and grasses, and features such as new ponds, rain-gardens, bird boxes and brown and green roofs. These features will benefit the wildlife value of the site in the long term.

Ground Conditions

Due to the historical and current industrial nature of the site, site investigations have been carried out into soil and groundwater conditions. The findings of these investigations have highlighted that some contamination of the underlying ground has occurred, which has potential to affect construction workers, visitors, people working and living on and around the site, and the fabric of the new buildings. However, a remediation strategy has already been developed in outline, which will be further developed in consultation with Harrow Council officers, before construction takes place to ensure that risk of harm to construction workers or people who use the site will be minimised. The specification of building materials and infrastructure will take account of the ground conditions, and a piling risk assessment will be carried out to minimise any impact on the underlying groundwater. With these measures in place, all adverse impacts will be mitigated.

Landscape and Visual Amenity

The site is in an urban setting and is surrounded by residential homes, retail and industrial land use. The site contains a large area of cleared ground towards the south where industrial buildings associated with the Kodak factory have been demolished, but the landscape of the site is generally dominated by industrial-style factory buildings and the tall chimney associated with the power house.

There are likely to be temporary adverse impacts on close proximity views of the site from Headstone Drive during construction. But in the long term, the development will result in an improved landscape character and visual amenity, with its varied skyline, active frontages and public open space, resulting in a higher

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quality sense of place and a moderate benefit to the character of the local landscape. The development will be better integrated with the surrounding urban grain and make a substantially greater contribution to the surrounding street scene. It will also result in beneficial impacts on views from both near and far away from the site, including the Protected Views designated by Harrow Council as seen from The Grove (Harrow Hill) and Old Redding (Harrow Weald Ridge).

Noise

Noise levels will vary throughout the construction period and across the site, depending on where activities are taking place at any one time. However, construction noise is likely to be audible at nearby residential receptors. The highest noise levels will occur when works are being undertaken at the site boundary. Although this will occur for short periods only, a range of noise mitigation measures included within a Construction Environment Management Plan will be implemented to reduce noise impacts so that they are not significant.

The development will generate noise both from traffic and activities taking place on site. However, the assessment has shown that there will be no significant impact on the surrounding area, and the site itself will be suitable for residential development and also for the proposed school and health centre with the provision of suitable glazing, ventilation and some noise attenuation fences. During the intermediate phases of development while the Kodak factory is still in operation, mitigation measures have been proposed to reduce the possible effect of ongoing noisy Kodak operations on new users of the site to acceptable levels.

Noise rating levels for the proposed energy centre and any other fixed building services have been recommended in order to keep noise from these sources to below existing noise levels.

Socio-economy

The Kodak site current employs about 340 people and is partially designated as part of the Strategic Industrial Location. The current jobs will continue until Kodak operations close, are consolidated or relocated, at which time, the jobs will be lost at the site. However, Kodak’s decision to leave the site is driven by the business and is not a direct result of the development.

The construction works will generate temporary employment opportunities and secondary supply effects and spending. Some of these effects could affect local or national resources and are likely to result in minor benefits at the local level. Long-term employment will also be created by the commercial land uses including retail, leisure and community facilities to be provided. This is expected to result in a long term moderate benefit at the district level.

Up to 1,800 new private and affordable homes will be built. This will make a significant contribution to the London Plan and London Borough of Harrow housing requirements - roughly 30% of the new homes target for Harrow by 2025.

The development will generate a demand for both primary and secondary school places. The proposed three-form entry primary school will cater for the demand for primary school places and the shortfall of places in the wider local community, whilst the demand for secondary school places will be met by existing surplus capacity within the borough.

The development includes space for a new healthcare facility to accommodate GPs and other healthcare services such as dentists and nurses. This will meet the healthcare demands created by the development and the facilities are likely to provide services for the wider catchment, which will be a significant benefit to the local and district healthcare system.

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The demand for open space and play-space will be met by the public open space, communal and semi-private areas and private gardens provide within the development. The green link will also provide an attractive open space for the existing local community.

Sunlight and Skylight

An assessment has been carried out to predict the possible effects of the development on sunlight and skylight (which make up daylight levels) at neighbouring properties and within the development itself. The assessment has identified one property on Harrow View and one of the two new properties on Mulberry Place where there may be some noticeable effects on light levels. Although the effect will be less than under previous development proposals for the site, these properties will be subject to further assessment during the detailed design stage once more detailed building designs are available.

The assessment has identified few areas within the development where there will need to more detailed assessment and consideration to design during the detailed design stage, but generally, levels of sunlight and daylight within the development will be very good both within buildings and open spaces.

Transport

A Transport Assessment has been carried out to predict the possible effects on road users, pedestrians, cyclists, public transport use and the local road network. This has taken account of other committed developments in the area, and has examined possible severance, driver delay, pedestrian delay and amenity, fear, intimidation, accidents and safety issues.

Traffic generated during construction will be managed through a Construction Environment Management Plan. This will include measures such as agreed routes for construction traffic, hours of operation, suitable control of vehicles including wheel washing, street cleaning and access control in line with best practice. This will make sure that there are no significant effects on road users, pedestrians and cyclists.

No significant effects on other drivers or road users have been identified and the development will be compliant with national and regional transport policies.

Permeable routes will be created for pedestrians linking to footpaths along Harrow View and Headstone Drive, local bus stops and the underground. Cycle routes through the site will also link with the cycle network outside the site, and improvements will be made to provide new off-road shared cycle and pedestrian links along Headstone Drive and Harrow View. Up to 1,600 cycle space will be provided across the site.

Car parking will be provided for each building on site. Additional shared parking areas will be available within the site, but these may charge to encourage other more sustainable forms of transport.

Sustainable transport will also be encouraged by providing a car club, parking charges and parking management, provision of electric vehicle parking spaces onsite, passive provision for electric vehicles onsite, upgrading the existing bus services, upgrading pedestrian and cycle facilities in the local area and providing pedestrian and cycle infrastructure as part of the development.

Waste

The amount of solid waste produced during demolition, construction and operation of the development has been assessed.

A Site Waste Management Plan will be agreed with the local planning authority in advance of the relevant construction activities to design out or minimise waste generated during construction. Most of the waste

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will be inert or non-hazardous. All construction waste will be managed in accordance with the Site Waste Management Plan developed to reflect current policy and good practice. This will ensure that waste is segregated and sorted for recycling, re-use and recovery.

An operational refuse strategy will be prepared during the detailed design for each phase of the development to allow space and facilities for separate storage and collection of waste for re-use and recycling within each building. The strategy will encourage households and business to reduce waste by providing appropriate facilities and educational information to promote segregation and recycling of waste. Most of the waste will be segregated and sent to Materials Recovery Facilities in West London from where it is likely to be taken to Energy from Waste recovery plants located in South Gloucestershire and Berkshire.

Water Resources

There are no natural water features at the site, the closest being Yeading Brook and Wealdstone Brook. Standard best practice measures will be used to manage any possible contamination of these watercourses during construction. These measures will be managed through the Construction Environment Management Plan, and no adverse impact is expected.

Piling methods will be specified during the detailed design stage to avoid contamination of the groundwater beneath the site, and no effect on groundwater quality is expected.

A flood risk assessment has been carried out and a conceptual Sustainable Urban Drainage System strategy has been developed for the site. Surface water flooding is a potential source of flooding, but the measures within the drainage strategy will attenuate surface water run-off and result in a beneficial impact on the surface water sewer system compared to the current situation. The strategy also provides the opportunity to improve water quality through the use of permeable paving, rooftop attenuation (green and brown roofs), ponds and the rain garden.

The development will generate additional foul water that will drain into the existing foul water network. During the initial phase of development, the new flows will be greater than existing flows into the network, but on completion, the foul water flows will be similar to the existing flows from the Kodak operations on site. Consultations are being carried out with Thames Water to identify whether any improvement works will be needed to the existing sewer network around the site.

Cumulative Effects

Consideration has been given to possible cumulative effects of other developments due to take place within Harrow. The most significant local development consented is that of Harrow View West located on the west side of Harrow View. The proposals include up to 314 new residential homes, likely to be low density buildings with roads and a large area of open space containing trees, grass, shrubs and an open water feature linking with the open spaces at Headstone Manor and the Harrow View East development.

The effects of traffic generated by Harrow View West have been taken into account in the transport assessment, and therefore the assessment has already addressed effects on road users, the road network, air quality and noise. Otherwise, the two developments will generally complement each other, enhancing the benefits to wildlife, flood attenuation, the integration of Headstone Manor with an improved public realm, whilst the surplus capacity for school places and healthcare services generated at Harrow View East will accommodate the increased demand generated by Harrow View West. No significant adverse impacts are expected.

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Comments Copies of the Environmental Statement together with copies of plans and supporting documents will be made available for inspection by Sushila Bhandari during normal office hours at the following address:

Harrow Council Planning Services

Civic Centre

Station Road

Harrow

HA1 2UY

Copies of the Environmental Statement can be bought for £170 in hard copy, or £20 in CD format, on application in writing to Sushila Bhandari at the above address.

Comments can be made by writing to Sushila Bhandari at the same address within 21 days of publication of the Environmental Statement.

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