In February 2023, The Earls Court Development Company (ECDC) published the draft masterplan proposals for the site of the former Earls Court Exhibition Centres for public consultation.

This was the seventh consultation phase since the site was purchased from the previous owners, with two years of detailed engagement on their vision to bring the wonder back to Earls Court.

The ambition for this masterplan launch was to deliver a best-in-class public consultation, achieving both depth and breadth of feedback. This included a new and improved ‘Conversation Corner’ exhibition space on Lillie Road and extensive promotion via distributing tens of thousands of flyers, letters, booklets, posters and social media advertising.

The ECDC has created a detailed report of the feedback they received, covering the key themes and asking and explaining how they are using these to shape the direction of the master plan moving forward.

Overall, there were:

  • Strong positivity towards the provision of publicly accessible green spaces.
  • Happiness that something is finally happening on-site.
  • Satisfaction with the prioritisation of walking and cycling on and through the site.
  • Positivity on our approach to car ownership by residents (minimal), but questions about those with reduced mobility who rely on vehicles.
  • There are mixed views on building heights and density, but an understanding of the relationship between height and the amount of affordable housing and green space that can be provided.
  • A solid desire to see high-quality architecture and design.

More detail on the consultation and feedback is included in the Feedback Summary available here. You can also view the full report from the masterplan launch on the website here.

At the end of this year, ECDC will launch our next phase of public consultation, showing how the feedback received has been reflected in the design for the updated masterplan – ECDC will share more information in due course. ECDC intend to submit hybrid planning applications for the overall master plan and a detailed Phase 1 application next summer.

 

 

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