Working together to make West Ealing a better place for residents, businesses and visitors.
All the work of the West Ealing Liveable Neighbourhood project, including the redesign of Dean Gardens. has been put on hold. The main funder is Transport for London and their loss of income with Covid 19 has meant a complete review of all their Liveable Neighbourhood projects. We will post any updates on this story but it may well be that the whole project gets cancelled.
Information about the West Ealing Liveable Neighbourhood project is here.
A new short film, Ealing – The Sky’s the Limit, by the Red Block Rebels gives a guided tour to the extraordinary number of towers built, being built and planned to be built right across the borough – 181 in total so far.
Members of Ealing Matters, which include West Ealing Neighbours, have been working under the Red Block Rebels brand to highlight the major developments which could bring up to 120,000 new residents in to the borough. These developments will change Ealing forever so we think it’s important everyone knows what is happening.
Ealing Matters has published a statement on its website with more information about this new film and how far these developments and the planning process have deviated from the Council’s own Local plan. The Council is now working on a new plan but will it abide by its own rules?
You can also visit the Stop The Towers website for more information on Red Block Rebels and their campaign.
A reminder that the developers of the Green Man Lane Estate, A2Dominion and Rydon, have asked for comments on their phase 4 plans by the end of today.
One of the main concerns about their plans is the proposed 15-storey height of some of the new blocks. This is higher than anything currently on the estate but it looks like they have taken the opportunity to match the height of one of the new buildings planned along the Uxbridge Road.
Full details of the phase 4 consultation are here. And the Ealing Today website has a fuller story. A planning application is likley to be submitted this summer.
The West London Sport website has reported that QPR has halted its deal with Ealing Council to use part of Warren Farm for its training facility. The QPR website has a news item in which Ealing Council says it will continue to push ahead with plans for community sports facilities at Warren Farm now that QPR is pursuing an alternative site.
Hanwell Nature has been one of the leading campaigners against the Council’s decision to give QPR a 200 year lease on Warren Farm. Their website has the full story of their efforts.
In this emergency we have sick residents, some seriously ill and some dying. Businesses of all sizes are struggling with no income. Some will go to the wall. Building work on sites small and large is sporadic. In June 2020 many people be on 80% of wages backdated to March. Others will have to wait till July. However this ‘furloughing‘ is only guaranteed to the end of June 2020.
Given all this, is it really sensible or appropriate for Local Authorities (LAs) to be pressing ahead with planning for 10/20/30/40 storey tower blocks? Well the Government thinks it is and have told LAs to crack on with planning during the pandemic.
Ealing Council’s Planning service has announced its process changes in response to the Covid-19 emergency. There has been some criticism about aspects of it. Site visits by Planning Committee members prior to Planning Committee meetings have been abandoned. The April 2020 Planning Committee meeting was cancelled, but the 21 May 2020 meeting will go ahead as a live-streamed one on the Microsoft MS Teams virtual platform. The period for pubic consultation on Planning Applications has been extended from 21 days to 42 days. For those residents staying indoors this extension will make little difference to them, as they will not walk past a lamppost displaying the Planning Notice. The Council seems to be blaming the lack of a new Local Plan on the pandemic. Ealing Council’s 2012 Local Plan is the oldest in London, and is spectacularly out of date.
WEN attended an MS Teams based Ealing Council Planning User Group virtual meeting on 16 April 2020. The ‘Ealing Matters’ network of 60+ residents’ and community groups carried out research amongst its members about the Council’s proposed changes to its planning processes. These research findings can be found at:
The Planning Application (ref: 184490FUL) to build an 8 storey block of 63 tiny studio flats in Chignell Place, central West Ealing may be on the 21 May 2020 Planning Committee Agenda. We may not discover this until 14 May 2020. (The application was on the agenda of the Council’s Planning Committee meeting in March, but was withdrawn at the last minute).
More on Covid-19 Council planning service changes at:
https://www.ealing.gov.uk/201262/coronavirus_covid_19/2669/changes_to_council_services/15
Eric Leach