The chief executive of the £10billion regeneration project across Harlesden and Park Royal is standing down.

Victoria Hill, chief executive of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) is leaving the organisation to take top spot at the Royal Town Planning Institute.

The news has shocked local residents who saw Ms Hill as “very fair and accessible”.

OPDC, originally set up by former Mayor Boris Johnson, is the local planning authority and regeneration agency for the 650 hectare site which also contains a Crossrail Depot and maintenance facility.

Under the 30-year long scheme the area has the capacity to deliver 25,500 new homes and 65,000 jobs.

The new city also plans to include a new train station as a major transport hub where High Speed 2 meets Crossrail, creating super-fast links in and out of the area.

Mark Walker, interim chair of the Old Oak Forum, said: “We’re very surprised and shocked to hear she’s standing down. She’s pleasant to deal with, is very fair, accessible and inclusive.

“I think she’s has a very tough job to identify and manage this development area. She was set up to get the development moving with the problem of having a depot in the middle of it. It’s very complicated. People around here want to OCPD to succeed.”

Ms Hill is the first chief executive assigned to the corporation and will be standing down in April.

She said: “It has been my great privilege to have had the opportunity to establish a new mayoral development corporation and to lead an enthusiastic and skilled team with whom I have been able to create a vision and framework for delivering this enormously complex project. I shall be watching the development of Old Oak and Park Royal with interest and huge affection and I wish the team and my successor well in their future endeavours.”

Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, said: “I’d like to thank Victoria for her outstanding work and wish her well in the next step in her career.

“I look forward to seeing much of her good work continue as the council and OPDC work closely together to deliver much-needed new homes, jobs and infrastructure improvements to west London.”

Liz Peace CBE, chairwoman of the OPDC said she was “extremely grateful” for Ms Hill’s work “managing the multiple relationships” with board members and stakeholders. She added: “Whilst we will all be sad to see her move on, I believe that she has left the ground well prepared for taking forward this exciting regeneration project.”

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, thanked Ms Hills for her “leadership, commitment and dedication” as chief executive of the OPDC.”