What’s up at the Westway Trust
Martyn Freeman, who lives in North Kensington, took over as director of the Westway Development Trust two years ago. Before joining the Trust, Martyn worked for many years in the private sector as a property developer.
The Trust controls most of the land under the Westway from Westway Community Transport in the east to the A40 in the west. It rents out office, studio, retail and light industrial space, using the resulting financial surplus to fund subsidised community office space and other projects. It also runs a wide range of sporting facilities at the Westway Sporting Centre.
We asked Martyn to describe future plans for the Westway Trust land that lies in Golborne Ward - the stretch along Acklam Road, across Portobello Road and along Thorpe Close up to Ladbroke Grove.
‘There are three bays on Acklam Road between Westway Community Transport’s headquarters and the 12 Acklam Road nightclub, one currently used for parking and two by the Playstation Skateboard Park. We’d like to see work space aimed at creative businesses there, but we would develop only single-storey buildings, leaving a gap between the roofs and the Westway. This would avoid creating a barrier effect along that part of Acklam Road, which has housing on each side of it.
‘Moving along Acklam Road, we come to the empty site between Acklam Road and Portobello Road. We held the Portobello Winterfest there just before Christmas and we’re in talks with a couple of groups with a view to having regular events held in this empty space.
‘Ultimately, we’d like to see what we’re calling transitional retail units there, with perhaps some scope for live entertainment as well. The units would be aimed at market traders who want to have more than a stall without the full level of commercial commitment that a retail unit requires.
‘On Thorpe Close, the office space between the Inn on the Green and Ladbroke Grove looks tired and needs to be redeveloped. We’d like to put shops on the ground floor with offices above. That would create a much more welcoming and lively walkway from Ladbroke Grove to Portobello Road.
‘The fact is that in the current economic situation, finding the commercial partners we need to achieve these ambitious developments is probably impossible. Nobody can predict how soon the economy will improve, but when it does, we want to be in a good position to go ahead with these plans.
‘Our short-term strategy is to improve the existing physical environment. We’ll be aiming to do more things like the creative lighting project along Thorpe Close that we put in last year with the help of the Westway Trust.
‘We’ll be spending money to smarten up both the Portobello Fitness Centre and the Inn on the Green, which has become a thriving centre for community life since Dave Pitts and Tina Alkaff took it over. And we’ll be improving the walkway and plaza between Portobello Road and Acklam Road.
‘We’ll be consulting as widely as we can and submitting a masterplan to the Royal Borough. That will put the Trust in the strongest possible position to put its plans into action when the economy rebounds.’
Westway Development Trust