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Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

This might be viewed as a continuation of our 10 July 2025 article within the Local Plan blog.

New Ealing Draft Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Government Examination

This examination took place at Perceval House, Ealing on Tuesday 5 August 2025. It was first scheduled to take place on 4 June 2025. However Ealing’s largest housing developer – Berkeley Homes – raised written objections to the draft proposals – so a new date was found to give time for LBE to gather together its response.

In its initial objection to the CIL proposals, Berkeley Homes said they first became involved with the old Gas Works site in Southall in 2014. This is not quite correct. National Grid had obtained outline planning consent to develop the site in September 2010. Berkeley then took over the project and gained a certificate of lawful development to proceed with it in 2013. Apart from its legal arguments, Berkeley is concerned that its CIL obligation could rise from its ’historic’ CIL bill of £22 million to one totalling £84 million. Berkeley plans to build 8,100 new homes on the old Gas Works site in Southall.

It is worth noting that had Berkeley got on with the job of developing the Gas Works site when it was granted planning permission 15 years ago, it would not be facing having to pay a CIL levy. But for all its claims to be building much needed new homes in the borough, by 2024 Berkeley had only managed to deliver 623 homes on the 88 acre site.

On 25 July 2025 Luxgrove Capital Partners (LCP) – ‘a real estate investment manager’ – entered the Ealing CIL fray. In a letter from Savills – ‘a global real estate service provider’ – representing LCP broadly echoed Berkeley’s concerns. ‘….the draft CIL Charging Schedule is not sufficiently justified and evidenced to ensure that it does not make development in the borough economically unviable, as envisioned by the Planning Act 2008’. LCP has interests in six up-market residential developments in Ealing.

Another objector to the levy is a charity which calls itself Christian Vision. Their written submission explains that Christian Vision is part of Lord Edmiston’s IM Group which owns the Sainsbury’s Superstore in West Ealing centre. It goes on to say that IM Properties has established itself as one of the UK’s largest privately owned investor developers’. IM’s owner Lord (Baron) Edmiston is a billionaire businessman and motor trade entrepreneur based in the West Midlands.

Before we get into the cut and thrust of the examination itself, it’s worth setting the scene for Ealing’s CIL.

The Local Authority CIL was introduced in 2008. Local Authorities (LAs) can use the CIL money for new facilities and community services which are needed to support new developments and the population they bring. These could be such things as transport, schools/colleges, medical/health services, sports and open spaces.

Ealing is the last Borough in London to be introducing this levy. LBE did publish plans to charge CIL in March 2015 and the Planning Inspectorate gave them the green light to do this in 2016. But for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained, LBE never went on to adopt the levy. The up shot of this is that £millions which could have been raised and spent on infrastructure were never collected – and developers enjoyed a much easier ride in Ealing than they typically do in other parts of London.

Under the present proposals Ealing’s draft CIL highlights are:

Ealing Centre: £300/sqm

Rest of Ealing: £150/sqm

Student Housing £350/sqm

How does this compare with the other 32 London LAs? Well firstly pretty much all of London’s LAs have implemented their LA CILs – some of them 10 years ago! Some LAs have complex calculation formulae. However the following are current figures for residential development in other London boroughs:

Brent: £340/sqm

Hammersmith & Fulham: £100 – £400/sqm

Harrow: £187.11/sqm

Hillingdon: £156.73/sqm

Hounslow: £96 – £274/sqm

All LAs have to collect the Mayor of London’s CIL which for Ealing is set at £60/sqm. The Mayoral CIL was introduced in 2012.

To add to the possible confusion, Section 106 developer ‘taxes’ were introduced in 1990. S106 can be spent on affordable housing, transport, education, healthcare, green spaces and recreation, and community services.

In 2025/26 LBE estimates it will spend over £6 million in S106 contributions from developers. LBE also estimates it will collect between £60 million and £90 million in LA CIL by 2039.

The Examination

A bombshell burst before the start of the meeting. Will French of Ealing Matters asked if he could speak at the meeting. ‘No’ was the answer. Given the residents of Ealing are the clear major stakeholders in the town, this gagging order was inappropriate and just plain wrong.

Proceedings commenced just before 11am with the Government Inspector (ISP), Keith Holland, aiming his questions directly at Chris Wheaton and Nick Grant of Berkely Homes (BH). It became very clear very quickly the ISP had done his homework.

As per usual in Perceval House speakers were not encouraged to speak closely to the microphone. Both BH speakers could hardly be heard.

I’ve just chosen highlights that I could piece together from inaudible BH.

ISP repeatedly quoted data from Savills and expressed his annoyance more than once that Savills had not turned up at the meeting – although they had asked to attend.

ISP directly challenged BH ‘do you want Ealing to abandon its CIL?’

BH: ‘Yes’.

ISP: Surely BH must appreciate that Ealing needs infrastructure irrespective of its new draft Local Plan? In terms of development policies many of Ealing’s policies emanate from The London Plan – as do ones in other London boroughs?

BH: Inaudible.

ISP raised the following issues with BH – sales value, build costs, profit margins, abnormal costs, finance costs, and viability assessments.

ISP’s body language suggested BH’s answers were not impressing the ISP.

ISP punched holes in BH’s estimates of historic CIL costs and future (post Ealing CIL) costs

BH: ‘£22 million historic CIL costs.

ISP: No – you mean the Mayoral CIL – that’s £18 million

BH: new CIL would be £84 million.

ISP: No – around £60 million.

As to the 88 acre old Gas Works site in Southall:

ISP BH has stated it will not continue with development on the site if the Ealing CIL is approved.

Really’?

Goodness knows what verbiage came out of BH on that one

ISP: But all London boroughs have CILs – some more expensive than Ealing’s CIL proposals

BH at one point went on the attack:

‘LBE’s housing delivery record is a poor one’.

LBE tried to defend itself.

BH: Brent’s record is better’

LBE: A single supplier built 1,000s of homes surrounding Wembley Stadium’

More blunt BH: Why can’t the Green Quarter in Southall (site for 8,100 new BH homes) be zero CIL?’

ISP: Only two large sites in the whole of London are zero CIL.

BH: The Ealing site is a unique challenge

ISP: Explain what you mean by this

BH: ???

LBE’s contributions could mostly be heard, were terse and content rich.

ISP closed the hearing at 12:50pm – sparing any more embarrassment for BH.

My gut feeling is that Ealing’s draft CIL will be approved by the Government.

Eric Leach with input from Will French

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Government examination of Ealing’s Local Plan

2 December – Blog Issue 12

Before we get into details of what happened today – day 1 of Block 2 – some catch up information is required.

Since June 2025, a huge number of documents have appeared (unheralded) on the Council’s Local Plan web site. Some are new documents and some are old documents made public for the first time. One useful snippet of new information is that unlike in recent years the Council now claims it has a Five Year Land Supply figure (a statutory requirement). Wow – the next thing that could happen is that the Council will produce annual housing completion figures. What a novelty that would be.

New Government housing targets for Ealing should have been confirmed recently. The figure will be around 3,000 completions annually up to 2029. No-one in their right mind believes these targets are remotely achievable. In West Ealing, for example, we have 10 major residential sites with Planning Permission, but construction is only taking place on one of the sites – the ‘infernal’ tower next to West Ealing Station.

As part of the Government’s ‘build, build, build’ obsession to complete 1.5 million new homes by 2029, all Local Authorities must create new Local Plans. So not only has the Council to complete the new Local Plan by mid-2026, it must begin work on a new, new Local Plan to attempt to complete 3,000 new homes every year till 2029.

And so onto today’s examination highlights. The topic – the elephant in the room – housing.

Things quickly turned surreal and frankly appalling as Inspector Dillon allowed gyrations around the Gypsy and Traveller policies to last 77 minutes. This was in addition to the 45 minutes pirouetting around the topic in Block 1 in June. Surely this was delinquent behaviour on behalf of the Planning Inspector

Then we got onto the Five Year Land Supply issue. Council Officer Weake ‘erred’ and ‘you knowed’ for an age on the somewhat arcane approach LBE had used. Somewhat anonymous developers and consultants demanded numbers of residents on each planned residential development. Mr Weake effectively said no. Ealing Matters’ Kay Garmeson pointed out that with Planning permission for 20,000 new homes already existing in Ealing the whole new-homes-to-be-built exercise was much like flogging a dead horse.

We eventually got onto speciality housing or ‘co-living’ and student accommodation in normal language. LBE claimed they were needed to complete its range of short term accommodation offerings. Will French from SEC said they were not really appropriate in the Ealing Metropolitan Town Centre. Councillor Jon Ball asserted that co-living and student accommodation were just approaches to avoid providing social housing. Resident Sue New said she felt co-living developments would inevitably morph into hotels.

Purpose Built Housing (PBH) was brought up next. Apparently the huge Greystar Greenford Quays build-to-rent residential development is PBH. Its representative claimed LBE sees no need for PBH.

Specialist Housing was next on the agenda and a lady from the Planning Reform Action Group (PRAG) was allowed by Inspector Dillon to talk at great length about LBE not meeting the housing needs of people with key protected characteristics. Ms Dillon tried to tell her that this was taking us all beyond plan making. This did not deter the PRAG lady who fiercely said unsafe homes were completely unacceptable, and this was a planning issue. There was break at 2:20pm. I’d had enough and left the meeting for a late lunch.

Eric Leach

31 July – Blog Issue 11

On 31 July 2025 we detected a 25 July 2025 Ealing Council reply to the Government Inspectors’ ‘additional work required’ missive.

Instead of the Council’s email bearing meaningful content, it quoted ‘prebooked holiday of key members of the team’ as a reason for not meeting the response deadline specified by the Planning Inspectors. The Council now wants to cancel the Block 2 examination hearings  (9 – 18 September 2025). The Council’s ‘intention’ is to complete the work required by mid-October 2025.

Massively unimpressive.

30 July – Blog Issue 10

On 11 July 2025 the Government’s Planning Inspectorate wrote to LBE detailing 23 issues it needed LBE to respond to. It wanted a reply by 18 July 2025.

As of 28 July 2025, no reply from LBE has been published in the LBE examination web site.

This delay (refusal) by LBE to meet the Government’s needs will surely not endear it to the Inspectors. It also calls into doubt whether the second half of the examination (‘Block 2’) will actually commence on 10 September 2025. 

Eric Leach

16 July – Blog Issue 9

Letter sent to Ealing Local Plan Programme Officer:

On 18 June 2025 Government Inspector Carol Dillon in answer to queries raised by residents Sue New and Kay Garmeson about social housing stated ‘it is not the role of the Local Plan to determine and meet social housing needs’. The lack of social housing in Ealing and in other Local Authorities is a massive problem. If what Ms Dillon says is true, then quite what is the point of a Local Plan? Please point me to the Government legislation which underpins her statement.

On 17 June 2025 during discussions on infrastructure Inspector Dillon asked what the Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group had to say on the matter. I was stunned by this. All NHS CCG throughout England were closed down on 1 July 2022. I find it hard to have confidence in this examiner’s judgements on healthcare infrastructure capacity planning in Ealing if she is clearly unaware of the current NHS governance structure in Ealing. An explanation / apology would be appreciated in the September 2025 examination sessions.

Eric Leach

10 July 2025 – Blog Issue 8

On 3 July 2025 the Government examiners wrote to LBE requesting further actions and information. The topic areas are Duty to Cooperate, infrastructure, Housing Land Supply, Gypsies & Travellers, strategic policies and Policy E3 – Affordable workspace.

The Government’s letter to LBE can be downloaded here:

Letter_to_Council___Post_hearings_advice__acc5Download

10 July 2025 – Blog Issue 7

Never a dull moment with Ealing’s new draft Local Plan 2024 – 2039, and housing issues, reports Eric Leach.

John Lewis Partnership

JLP’s continued interest in the new, draft Ealing Local Plan (LP) is clearly centred around the possible increase in the height of the towers and increase in the number of flats at its Waitrose West Ealing site. On day one of the examination of the Local Plan in Perceval House (16 June 2025), JLP told Ealing Matters that it would like to meet local Waitrose community members. It wanted to update local residents on its plans. On 7 July LBE’s planning supremo Peter George confirmed that JLP were planning such a meeting.

Separately, but no doubt related to the plan to meet local residents, JLP raised a ‘Supplementary Question’ (EX17) with Government examiners. The questions related to LBE’s LP Tall Building policy. The examiners have referred the question to LBE. The question refers to the successful JLP Planning Application for developing the Waitrose retail site into a mixed residential and retail site. JLP is asking if there are any implications on the soundness of LBE’s evidence (including Policy D9) and the ‘policies and capacities of the proposed site allocation’. JLP wonders if the LP needs modification for soundness.

Ealing’s CIL and Berkeley Group

A public Government examination of Ealing’s draft Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) will take place at 11am on Tuesday 5 August 2025 in Perceval House. This meeting replaces the 4 June Ealing CIL examination which was cancelled at short notice. Driving this cancellation was Berkeley going to law concerning its objection to the draft Ealing CIL. The grounds for Berkeley’s objection cite ’Prematurity and the Aggregate Funding Gap’. In crude terms, Berkeley estimates that its historic CIL liability was £22 million. If the new draft Ealing CIL came into force, it estimates its CIL bill will be £84 million.

Berkeley Group’s Participation in £100 Million ‘Gift’

Berkeley appeared in the national press on Thursday 10 July 2025. Berkeley is one of seven UK housebuilders who have offered to pay the Government £100 million. Why this magnanimous gesture one might ask? The builders want a deal with the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA has for 17 months been trying to determine whether the seven builders have been sharing ‘commercially sensitive information’. (In crude terms such behaviour might be referred to as running a cartel). The irony is that if, as expected, the CMA accepts the deal, the cash will be used by the Government to fund affordable housing. So the builders (and Housing Associations) will receive this money back in affordable housing grants. According to ‘The Times’, six of the housebuilders have issued statements denying any wrongdoing. However, as yet, Berkeley has not commented publicly on the financial transaction.

26 June 2025 – Blog Issue 6

LBE’s Unplanned Housing Activities

Of course LBE’s housing activities are not just confined to what was planned for now (Ealing Local Plan 2011 – 2026) or for the new, draft Ealing Local Plan 2024 – 2039. There were and will be unplanned housing activities including housing deals with property developers and the ups and downs of LBE’s arms-length property developer ‘Broadway Living’ (BL).

On 11 June 2025 LBE purchased 180 homes from Berkeley Homes. The homes have already been built on the old gas works site in Southall. LBE paid out £52.7 million. The cash came for a GLA grant, developers and (worryingly) a loan. LBE hopes this acquisition will help it towards its target of 4,000 new affordable homes by 2026. (With just 17 months to go to the end of 2026 one wonders how many new homes LBE will have to ‘complete’ or purchase ‘built’ to achieve this target?)

On 16 June 2025 Tide Construction agreed to pay LBE £15 million in order for Tide to renege on its affordable housing commitments in approved Planning applications at Southall gas works and at the Majestic Wine site in Hastings Road, West Ealing. LBE said it would spend the cash to fund affordable housing in Ealing.

In 2014 LBE created ‘Broadway Living’ (BL) as an arms-length wholly owns subsidiary. BL is LBE’s attempt at developing property itself. It has not been a stellar success. Its initial line of credit was £19 million. However in LBE’s June 2020 business plan, this line of credit had ballooned to £400 million. How this huge financial risk was not subject to public consultation is mind boggling. BL’s major projects were Perceval House redevelopment and Gurnell swimming pool residential development. The former project with partner Vistry collapsed in April 2023. The Gurnell project got the go ahead in January 2025. However since then there has been no announcement about who will build either the 10 storey tower blocks housing 300 flats or the new swimming pool. The latter was estimated to cost £55 million which LBE has committed to fund itself.

However probably the most damning BL failure involved its employing Henry Construction Projects (HCP) in February 2022. BL awarded HCP a £40 million contract to build 145 new homes on six LBE owned sites throughout Ealing. In June 2023 HCP went bust owing creditors over £43 million. One does wonder about BL’s ability to carry out due diligence. Mark Henry, a Director of HCP, was also a Director of Lancsville Construction (LC). LC went bust in 2009 owing creditors £23 million.

19 June 2025 – Blog Issue 5

I sampled 2 hours of today’s examination on ‘Economic Development’. I found it uninspiring and couldn’t hear as the main LBE Officer who spoke did so quietly and only to the Inspector. And I was reminded of something my old school head master said: ‘The questions in economics stay the same, it’s just the answers that change over time’.

This is the final blog on the June 2025 Ealing Local Plan examination. The live examination finished on Thursday 19 June. It now takes a Summer break of over 11 weeks and returns, online only, at 10am on Tuesday 9 September 2025.

As someone who had studied the UK planning system now for over 20 years I can’t, on the face of it, envision the current version of the new, draft Ealing Local Plan 2024 – 2039 gaining Government approval. The killer element is perhaps the lack of evidence from, credibility, track record and reputation of LBE to actually ever meet any housing completion targets. No-one can seriously believe that LBE will enable the completion of 41,535 homes by 2039. Even harder to envision is home completions in Ealing reaching 10,410 by 2029, especially as in year 1 according to the GLA:

ONLY 134 HOME COMPLETIONS WERE ACHIEVED IN EALING LAST YEAR. AND THERE WERE ZERO MAJOR DEVELOPMENT STARTS IN EALING THIS YEAR.

The Inspectors loaded up the LBE team with plenty of questions to answer by 9 September 2025. Maybe it will only all come good if there is a culture change at LBE, possibly with new business processes and replacement personnel. It’s important to note that the new home completion targets for 6 other London boroughs are higher that Ealing’s. Maybe they will also struggle to attain them. And (heresy I know) maybe the Government’s targets are unrealistically high!

Issues not covered in this June examination include the well documented shortage of building site workers in Ealing. One of the reasons for this appears to be that HS2 is offering £300/day for building site workers – in Northolt and up and down the line – much higher than rates on offer in Ealing generally.

Some Housing Associations (HAs) don’t have the cash (which they had in previous years) to purchase homes from private property developers and offer them as social housing. Cladding replacement costs and costs dealing with poor build quality (including mould, damp and ill-fitting doors and windows) have taken their toll. A2Dominion, an Ealing HA, has just recorded its third consecutive year of financial losses. In 2024/5 A2Dominion posted a £21 million deficit.

Until September – or maybe sooner.

Have a good Summer.

18 June 2025 – Blog Issue 4

18 speakers round the big table today. No more than 10 folks in the public gallery. ’INS’ refers to an Inspector speaking.

Housing

General Conformity with The London Plan (TLP)

INS: How were housing targets calculated for the years after Year 5 (till 2039)

Ian Weekes (IW), LBE: Using the ‘SCLARG’ – he mumbled

INS: LBE has a historic undersupply of housing completions. How does LBE hope to remedy this?

IW; More mumbling. (Although clearly a clever man he has no idea about public speaking and he erms and ers over and over again).

INS: Is it granular/site specific?

IW: Yes

INS: What role has evidence played?

IW: If developers build when they say they will – we can reach target.

Mr Hatch JLP/Waitrose: We just got approval to build 428 housing units in West Ealing. We support LBE in principle but have concerns about LBE’s ability to meet completion targets. We also feel that sites are not being developed to their full potential.

(Is JLP planning to submit another Waitrose Planning Application to up the flat numbers and tower heights?)

JLP feels the Local Plan (LP) has not been positively prepared. And, as others have mentioned, national/London completion targets have been increased since the LP was drafted.

Kay Garmeson of Ealing Matters: There’s a general lack of digestable information here for residents. Most people won’t understand.

INS: This topic will come up later.

IW: We’ve had to aim to double our targets. Covid and the economic situation have been problematic.

Councillor Ball: In recent years there has been much building/planning activity on undesignated sites as well as of course on designated sites (Ealing LP 2011 – 2026).

Distribution of Housing Growth

INS: Why didn’t LBE produce a table showing the distribution of development sites across the borough? (Interestingly LBE did this in Ealing LP 2011- 2026).

IW: We didn’t see the need.

(A glaring example of LBE not considering the information needs of concerned Ealing residents)

INS: Wouldn’t it be useful in monitoring performance?

IW: Not keen.

INS: Important re transparency.

Kay Garmeson: Residents need a narrative about what is happening! 1,200 comments were submitted by residents about the Regulation 18 LP.

INS: LBE go away and look at this issue…

IW: Still not keen

(His general unawareness of others needs is staggering)

IW: We see pipeline changes every day.

Libby Kemp, Ealing Matters: Superstructure/infrastructure needs in the 7 towns could be highlighted in this overall housing distribution table. Surely the technology exists to update the table on a regular basis.

Local Housing Needs

INS: The needs of different places and different groups.

LBE’s Sam Cuthbert spoke at this point but his quiet voice and his distance from the microphone meant that I heard not a word of it.

An imperial College London speaker said the LP does not cater for students or for university key workers.

INS: Does the LP cater for students?

LBE: Don’t know.

INS: Please research and get back to me.

A representative of a developer pointed out a new TLP was in preparation and the Ealing LP would be obsolete the day it was published. Regular periodic reviews of the Ealing LP will be needed.

Steve Barton(SB) LBE: I am meeting GLA very soon to discuss the new TLP. Timescale for publishing the new TLP is difficult to forecast – possibly Summer 2026.

Sue New: Every one of the 7 towns need a plan. Sadly LBE never ever meets people’s housing needs.

Housing Land Supply Plan

Some meanderings about windfall land/sites and LBE’s ‘capacity tool calculator’.

INS: Is the tool bespoke to LBE or derived from TLP?

LBE: mumbling response…

INS: Is the tool used for site capacity optimisation?

SB: Yes

Housing Completions

INS: How does LBE record demolitions?

LBE: I don’t think we do.

Berkeley Homes representative: Building starts in Ealing this year are zero.

Another developer representative: The GLA states that only 134 home completions were achieved last year in Ealing.

I was truly stunned at this point.

INS: What are LBE’s completion figures for 2024/5?

LBE: Not available.

Existing Site Allocations

INS: How many of new Ealing LP site allocations are legacy sites from the Ealing LP 2011 – 2026?

LBE: Don’t know.

INS: Is LBE’s approach a cautious one?

IW: No answer to that question but a bald ‘we believe we will meet the targets’.

INS: I guess LBE has more confidence in the first 5 years of the plan as opposed to years 6 to 15?

LBE: Yes

There was then a long complicated discussion about ’housing trajectory’ v ‘housing capacity’.

INS: Why are there no housing figures on site allocations in the new LP?

SB: ‘I’m a social planner’… If we put a housing number of the sites developers will see that as a minimum and local activists/residents will view it as a maximum.

INS: Why not state ‘indicative’ numbers?

SB: No

Soundness of Allocated Sites

INS: Has LBE submitted evidence capable of supporting allocated site implementations?

IW: Yes

INS: Impact on critical infrastructure?

INS: Concerns have been expressed about the gap between housing trajectory v deliverable sites.

Developers and the GLA all expressed similar concerns about LBE’s credibility to meet the LP housing targets.

Berkeley Homes referred to the stalled Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) introduction – of course it is Berkeley that has started legal action against LBE on this issue!

Berkeley also explained that it was hard work getting LBE to engage with it. It had been trying for 18 months to discuss plans for phases 4 to 9 in Southall. As it’s the biggest developer in Ealing (8,100 homes planned on the old gas works site in Southall) – smaller developers must struggle even more.

He than went on to describe how the Perceval House redevelopment deal between LBE and Vistry fell apart and that even the LBE residential development plans in the car park here at Perceval House are unrealistic. It has failed to find a development partner – but aims to complete in 4 years time.

Berkely Homes emphasised they felt the LP was unsound.

Housing Land Supply

INS: Why has LBE only got a land supply for 3.9 years and not 5 years as required?

LBE: ??? unintelligible.

INS: Of course we are already in year 2 of the LP. LBE might not make it to year 15.

IW: He laughed……

INS: When we reconvene in September 2025 might LBE have got a 5 year land supply?

Kay Gameson: there are 21,000 housing units already in the Planning Application pipeline relating to previous years permissions.

SB: He launched into long soliloquy about all the toil and trouble LBE had been through in preparing the LP. And more anticipated and unanticipated changes were on the way. We have done our best – he concluded.

Then followed a 48 minute discussion between a Gipsy and Traveller (G&T) representative and LBE about ‘pitches’ for gypsies. Quite simply LBE has allocated 6 and new laws etc demand 31 pitches. INS, after telling us all on each of the three mornings external speakers can speak once and cannot respond to the LBE response,… she allowed to G&T lady to speak 6 times on the same topic… Level playing field?

Affordable Housing

INS: LBE’s policy follows GLA policy except for wanting 40% not 35%.

Developers and the GLA were not happy about 40%

Councillor Ball: I’m constantly contacted by constituents who cannot afford the rents on offer. We need social housing.

Libby Kemp: Social housing desperately needed. Social housing allocations need to be broken out of Affordable Housing provision.

LBE: It’s question of economics

INS: It is not the role of the LP to determine and meet social housing needs

Kay Gameson: Nobody is addressing the need for social housing.

Sue New: LBE could be building social housing.

At 5pm I left the meeting.

On Thursday 17 June 2025 we have a day devoted to Economic Development

16-17 June 2025 – Blog Issue 3

This report covers the discussions that were held on Monday 16 June and Tuesday 17 June. Thanks to Kay Garmeson for helping me with Monday’s sessions’ notes. I can’t and won’t give blow by blow accounts of all the exchanges. I’ve picked ones that seemed very pertinent to me. I’ve ignored section, sub-section and paragraph notations re Local Plan (LP, 518 pages), The London Plan (TLP, 600 pages) and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF, 60 pages) as these documents are not readily and simultaneously available to me or the reader of the blog!

I have to say the two Government Inspectors have been unfailingly polite and considerate in terms of speakers mostly having the chance to respond to Ealing’s outpourings. Steve Barton (SB) has done most of the talking for LBE. When other LBE staff have spoken I’ve named them LBE. Inspectors contributions are labelled INS. Will French (WF) of Ealing Matters has shouldered much of the residential comments load.

There were no introductions to, or clear self introductions, by four external speakers. One lady spoke so quietly and not into the microphone that I hadn’t a clue who she was or what she was saying.

Day 1

Procedural and Legal Matters

INS explained that these proceeding were not being live-streamed or recorded. This seems odd with the current preponderance of Planning Appeal and Government Examination judgements being Appealed.

LBE fielded 7 employees, with 4 at the speakers table and 3 sitting behind them. This seemed to me like a massive overkill for a Planning Department often complaining it had too much work to carry out.

INS pointed out that LBE has already made some LP changes based up previous INS responses.

SB introduced himself as the manager responsible for the Ealing LP. He was given free reign to describe LBE’s work on the LP. LBE Council approved the current draft LP on 23 February 2024. It appears that the LP has strategic objectives and 9 priorities. (This was new, news for many of us residents!) The LP aims to make Ealing a destination – not just a dormitory suburb. Balanced growth across Ealing’s 7 towns was a goal of the LP. The LP has been tested against the NPPF 2023. The LP aims to be in general conformity with TLP but not identical to it. Ealing land is included in the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) estate, but the OPDC has planning control of this land. SB correctly emphasised that major changes to the national planning system are underway and likely to continue.

Plan Preparation and Scope

INS questioned LBE on time table slippage on the LP submission to the Secretary of State. SB responded that it was caused by ‘unprecedented interest from the community’. With less than 20 community members of the 300,000+ Ealing adult community in the public gallery, I found this response somewhat underwhelming.

INS questioned why the Local Development Scheme (LDS) had not been systematically updated, what’s the future of the LDS, why wasn’t the 2022 Statement of Community Involvement SCI) not updated and how did LBE respond to site owners complaints about not being made aware of site allocations? SD bravely said ‘we can always do better’! LBE had no LDS updating plans, felt the 2022 SCI very comprehensive, and had tried hard to contact all site owners.

WF opened his account with the fact that there had been no LDS since 2015. A final LDS version in 2018 was never published. SB said the LDS requires a lot of work. Not for the last time SB claimed Covid as a reason for delays. WF claimed LBE did not grasp that concerned residents need to understand what is/was going on. WF further pointed out that the LDS is difficult to read, is incomplete, and it does not refer to details on the preparation of other related documents.

WF then criticised the SCI. LBE had not followed the guidance contained within it and had not created and maintained a database of interested contacts. LBE issued a Shaping Ealing survey, but it and the results were, confusingly, not part of the LP Regulation 18 consultation. Responders to the Regulation 18 version of the LP received no feedback. It was confusing to residents that they had to re-submit comments to the Regulation 19 LP version. LBE has never built or maintained an active channel of communications between residents and the LP Council Officers. SB said a big speadsheet of comments was created on the LBE web site to display community comments and responses to the Regulation 19 LP version. SB refuted pretty much all of what WF said – but there was no cheering about this from the public gallery.

INS asked about the scope of the LP and how it related to Neighbourhood Plans (NPs). INS went further and stated there is nothing in the LP to explain scope. INS also questioned the LP’s consistency with the NPPF. SB declared all LP policies are strategic. SB also said as regards NPs, LBE decides site allocations. Henry Peterson of Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum (OONF) pointed out that none of this is explained in the LP. It doesn’t comply with the NPPF. He couldn’t buy the concept that all policies were strategic. Other boroughs’ NPs (eg Kensington & Chelsea) labels NP policies as strategic and non-strategic. Councillor Ball chimed in with the thesis that local residents know more about their area than Council Officers. An impasse was reached and SB said he would respond further, later, to INS concerns.

INS raised the issue of whether the LP adopts a logical structure. Nic Ferriday of Ealing Friends of the Earth waded in here. Ordinary people find the LP difficult to make sense of. They fail to penetrate such a long document. It takes a while before the reader realises that the entire borough will be covered by residential tower blocks by 2039. With regards to climate change, we are not told how consistent the LP is with climate requirements. The LP fails to point out that 5-storey terraces have a much lower carbon footprint than tall tower blocks. This is a crucial factor in fighting climate change.

INS asked: ‘Is the LP too long?’ SB revealed much when he said the LP seeks to provide certainty for investors and the community (in that order). He also said the GLA and LP statutory consultees were happy with the length and content of the LP.

WF found the LP more like a political manifesto than a technical planning document. Councillor Ball pointed out that when the LP was debated in full Council it, plus supporting documents, comprised 1,209 pages. He agreed that residents found the LP difficult to access. Julian Carter (JC) of Savills/JLP wanted an early review of the LP during the 15 year plan period.

Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA)

INS asked did LBE create options? SB said yes. LBE said Option 1 is most closely aligned with TLP. INS said Option 1 scores negatively on heritage. INS said Option 2 is about north/south connectivity. LBE said north/south connectivity needs to be improved. INS – Option 4 is a do what you want approach. LBE – Option 4 carries forward the best bits of the other 3 options.

Historic England had raised in writing its concerns re: the IIA’s robustness. INS was disappointed HE did not attend today.

INS asked about IIA concerns raised and LBE’s response. LBE said highways issues were raised relating to Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA). JC of Savills/JLP questioned whether the IIA sufficiently considered townscape and housing capacity issues. SB said options were appraised and re the JLP/Waitrose site in West Ealing, the appraisal was based upon what the allocation was supposed to achieve. JC was unconvinced that options had been tested.

INS raised general conformity with TLP consistency. INS said the major lack of conformity was related to affordable housing. SB said he would accept INS’s modifications.

INS raised the issue of meeting the 3 aims in s149 of the Equalities Act 2010. LBE was asked to prepare a note to clarify the contents of the two version of EIA (2024 and 2022).

Duty to Co-operate

Issues raised were housing capacity, affordable housing, industrial capacity, town centres, Green Belt/MOL, tall buildings, relations with OPDC, infrastructure requirements, traffic, highways, Gypsies and travellers. There are still outstanding issues with the GLA. Hillingdon is in dispute about the siting of the Gypsy & Travelers site on the boroughs’ borders. There are also airport issues.

Scope of Prescribed Bodies

Organisations which had not responded to LBE’s request for co-operation included the CAA, the Homes and Community Agency, the Office of the Rail Regulator, and mobile network providers. Bizarrely NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were mentioned. All CCGs in England were closed down on 1 July 2022.….

End of day actions for LBE were:

SB: clarity on DPDs that have been superseded in para 4.9

Clarity on whether OPDC Statement of Common Ground (SoCG) is incorporated in the schedule

Summarise in a note the matters informed by the Equality Impact Assessment.

Identify earlier co-operation on the Duty to Co-operate.

Find out the publication dates of SoCGs.

Day 2

Vision, Objectives and Spatial Strategy

Vision

SB, on the subject of vision, came out with a somewhat unconnected list of town features and aspirations which included alignment with TLP, wanting quality jobs, mixed communities, rail and bus services, our Regional Park, ‘walk and wheel more’, 20 minute neighbourhoods, and an inclusive society. He made the claim ‘Ealing will become the engine of West London’s new economy’. He provided no explanation of what this meant – neither did he point to any evidence to support this very bold claim.

Resident Sue New made strong claims that Ealing is not an inclusive community. For the physically disabled, the elderly and the under 5s she claimed Ealing had become less accessible in recent years and saw no new plans for it to improve access at rail stations for example.

There followed a lot of talk but little clarity on a range of themes including climate action, thriving communities (whatever that means), tackling crime and inequality. Delivering strategic infrastructure was the next topic. LBE struggled with this one as most of the strategic infrastructure with regards to Ealing is provide by third party public and private organisations.

WF responded by saying (as he had said in 2011 about the then-current Local Plan) this does not constitute a vision. He asked – what about location, connectivity, links to London, the West Country and the Midlands, history and culture? The LP vision gives no real clue as to where Ealing is going. In the last 15 years Ealing’s Metropolitan Town Centre (EMTC) had declined in importance, he said.

Councillor Jon Ball questioned the merits of describing Ealing as 7 towns. This was very arbitrary he said and it was very clear, for example, that West Ealing should be a town in its own right. SB responded by saying the 7 towns arrangement were an administrative convenience(!).

SB did not respond to WF’s criticisms on the LP’s vision. However later on he quoted some retail survey which said EMTC’s retail rating had improved over recent years. WF, who lives in the EMTC, found this hard to believe and me, who has probably visited the EMTC 2/3 times/week for the last 20 years, found the findings unfathomable.

Someone representing Berkeley Homes felt the national housing crisis demanded Ealing have higher home completion targets. Quite some comment given Berkeley is planning to build 8,100 new homes on the old gas works site in Southall. He also pointed out LBE’s failure to publish a five year land supply, and its highest annual homes completions achieved in recent years is 25% fewer that what’s promised in the LP – both meant the LP was unsound.

There was then much toing and froing about measuring performance.

WF pointed out that LBE had failed to measure how the current Local Plan 2011 – 2026 has performed/is performing. He then waded in with the fact that statutory Annual Monitoring Reports (AMRs) had not been produced on anything like a regular basis. SB said AMRs were not needed every year. WF disagreed. Oddly the Inspectors chose not to join in this fight….

The Berkeley’s man said the performance of LBE S106 financial allocations was impossible to track. No-one disagreed with this.

There was talk around the strategic pace of interventions, balanced growth and were alternatives researched. SB’s responses gave us little clarity on these questions/issues.

WF raised the issue of the development of the Ealing Metropolitan Town Centre EMTC). Where is the evidence that people are being / will be attracted to visit the EMTC from all over Ealing and beyond? There’s much evidence that British Land is looking to withdraw from EMTC developments. International House in the Ealing Broadway shopping centre is to be converted from offices to flats. Sites once earmarked for commercial development are now being aimed at student accommodation. We also hear that TK Maxx is up for redevelopment – rather odd as it was only built a few years ago. The West Ealing portion of the EMTC is visibly declining. Also it’s clearly a different and separate centre to the central Ealing centre. SB popped up with ‘the EMTC area was defined by the GLA’. (He seems to have forgotten that in 2006/7 when Mayor Livingston was creating MTCs, LBE realised central Ealing a was not big enough for an MTC so it bolted on West Ealing centre to make it big enough for MTC status).

INS wanted to know about the NP impact beyond borough boundaries. SB talked about working closely with Hounslow, Heathrow, Harrow and Brent. Hammersmith & Fulham for some reason did not want to respond to LBE overtures for co-operation.

INS wanted to know how successful LBE was in turning down Planning Applications based on existing policies. SB was hardly convincing in his response.

INS wanted to know why Ealing Regional Park (ERP) was not in the NP? SB said it was a growing project which could well involve neighbouring boroughs. Councillor Ball interjected with his opinion that the ERP was just a re-branding exercise. SB poopoed this notion. (For what it’s worth I’ve researched ERP extensively and Councillor Ball is exactly correct).

After lunch, Infrastructure was on the menu. The most arresting contribution on this was from Nic Ferriday of Ealing Friends of the Earth. He stated quite baldly that the LP gave no details of any hard or soft infrastructure plans over the next 14 years – including those for medical, law and order, water, electricity and food. Will the sewage treatment plant at Mogden be able to handle the additional human waste generated by 80,000 new residents by 2039? Where are the plans for this? Will we have more and more sewage dumped in the River Brent?

WF weighed in with asking what LBE’s population plans were.

Sue New added there were clearly national concerns about electricity supplies and the massive increase in the current and planned number of Data Centres in West London, which had huge, constant electrical needs.

WF was surprised by the lack of information on road networks. The INS suggested LBE’s starting point is the roads are full. LBE waxed lyrical about Active Travel. Councillor Ball reminded us all how disastrous the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods had been, with all but one of them having to be cancelled.

Much of the rest of the afternoon was ruined for me as two of the LBE planners failed to communicate successfully – one spoke too fast and another spoke very quietly away from the microphone unaware perhaps that the public could not hear him.

A long rambling discussion followed about the pros and cons of LBE’s review of the legitimacy of LBE designated Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land (MOL). INS got very interested when LBE mentioned tower blocks on MOL at the Gurnell swimming pool development. LBE said CAA, Homes and Communities Agency, the office of the Rail Regulator, NATS, mobile network providers have all not responded. NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were mentioned. This was worrying as CCGs were abolished on 1 July 2022…..

Ater spending over 6 hours attending the examination it strongly occurs to me that what is being attempted here is unachievable. If you live in a country which wants 1.5 million new homes to be built very rapidly; and London has agreed to build over 80,000/year; and Ealing commits to building over 3,000/year – with zero control over infrastructure providers – then the Ealing LP is doomed to failure. There is no statutory requirement for Thames Water, SSEN (electricity), Met Police (law and order), NHS (healthcare) and Ealing Council (social care) to even supply capacity planning estimates of their services’ delivery for Ealing in 2024 – 2039. Add to this the obvious reality that private (and public) property developers with approved Planning Applications are not obliged to say when and if they will carry out the planned development – or whether or when they might decide to sell the site on to someone else.

Between 1946 and 1951 over 1.2 million new homes were built in the UK. 80% of the homes were built by Local Councils. All the infrastructure providers were under the direct control of the State.

On Wednesday the Elephant in the room in Ealing’s Local Plan – over 40,000 new homes by 2039 – will be put under the microscope by the Government Inspectors.

13 June 2025 – Blog Issue 2

The latest line-up of external speakers at the examination looks a bit like a conference programme for residential property developers. New to the residential property development scene, the John Lewis Partnership (JLP – the Waitrose owner) feels the need to speak on each of four days next week! JLP recently won a heavily contested Planning Application to build 428 flats in tower blocks overlooking West Ealing Station. One wonders what other property development aspirations LLP has for Ealing. Other large residential property developers lined up to speak include Berkeley Homes (8,100 new home in Southall), Greystar (2,118 new homes in Greenford) and Luxgrove Capital Partners (531 new homes in West Ealing).

Resident-led questions/presentations scheduled to be delivered include those by Creffield Area Residents Association, Ealing Friends of the Earth, Ealing Matters, Old Oak Neighbourhood, Save Ealing Parks and Sue New.

It’s clearly a packed programme and just how 19 companies’ and individuals’ questions/ presentations/responses can be packed into Thursday 19 June will be interesting to see.

The Government Inspectors have already published over 400 detailed questions of their own to be put to Ealing Council. One wonders who Ealing Council will field to respond to all these questions?

The current (ever-developing) running order/line up of speakers can be found at:

http://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/2071/running_order_for_hearing_sessions.pdf

Government Planning Inspectors to decide how developers will redevelop Ealing

This is the first of a series of daily blogs covering the first stage of the public examination of Ealing’s new Local Plan to be held in Perceval House in central Ealing starting at 12.00 pm on Monday 16 June 2025.

The main author and editor of the blogs is Eric Leach – for 20 years WEN’s Vice Chair. The public are welcome to attend. Only members of the public who submitted written comments on the plan and who asked (by 2 May 2025) to speak will be able to do so.

What is a Local Plan?

All Local Authorities are required to have an up-to-date Local Plan. Local Plans establish the framework for future development, guiding decisions on where and what can be built considering local needs and opportunities.

Ealing’s existing Plan is the oldest in London. Adopted by the Council in 2012 it covers the period 2011 to 2026. Taking over six years to produce, Ealing Council has published a new plan for the period 2024 – 2039.

What is the government’s examination of the new Local Plan about?

Two Planning Inspectors have been appointed by the Secretary of State to examine Ealing’s new Local Plan drafted last year. They will determine whether the plan it is legally compliant and ‘sound’. The key test is whether the it is consistent with national policy.

The main examination will run as two separate ‘blocks’. Next week’s block focuses on strategic issues. The daily programme is set out here, and the speakers and what they want to speak about are listed on a separate page. Some speakers will raise issues of concern to local people. Far more will be developers arguing they should be allowed a freer hand to develop their sites.

The second block will be in September. It will examine more local matters including tall buildings, heritage, town centres and individual sites. This will not take place in Perceval House but will be virtual and online.

The Community Infrastructure Levy examination

An earlier examination event was to have taken place on 4 June 2025, when the Planning Inspectors were to review Ealing Council’s draft Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). However, the event was cancelled at short notice. To fully comprehend this early disruption of proceedings, some background is needed.

Local Authority CILs are statutory developer taxes to fund infrastructure. Ealing Council is the only London Council which has so far failed to set up and implement its CIL. Berkeley Group, London’s largest home builder, has employed a heavyweight barrister to write to Ealing Council claiming its new CIL policy is illegal. Berkeley began developing the 88-acre Southall Gasworks site in 2017. It built 300 homes as part of its original plans to build 3,750 new homes. Berkeley then took a rest for a few years. In 2024 its development plan ballooned to 8,100 new homes. Part of Berkeley’s illegality claim is the fact that its original liability pre-CIL was £22 million. If Ealing’s draft CIL is implemented (and Berkeley builds all its planned new homes), Berkeley estimates its CIL liability will increase to £84 million.

More information

Ealing Council’s draft, new Local Plan 2024 – 2039 and associated documentation can be found at:

https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201164/local_plan/3125/new_local_plan

The Planning Inspectors’ description of matters, issues and questions relating to Ealing’s draft Local Plan can be viewed at:

https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/20547/miqs.pdf

The draft ‘indicative’ timetable/running order of the examination (already changed for 16 June) can be viewed at:

https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/20542/timetable.pdf

Eric Leach is happy to answer questions and receive comments at:

leachericalan@gmail.com

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The Grosvenor pub in West Ealing to re-open at end of April

Food and Fuel, the new owners of The Grosvenor pub, met up with locals in one of their ‘Maggie’s’ outlets on New Broadway W5 last night (Tuesday 18th March). The Grosvenor name will be retained as will the stained glass and beautiful, original wooden bar and panelling. Five real ales are promised as well as English/Mediterranean/Gastro Pub food. No talk of juke boxes, pool tables or Sky Sports! Opening at 11am seven days a week with proper coffee and family friendliness this all sounds like a winner.

The refurb/rebuild has proved somewhat costly and upstairs apart from a live-in manager’s flat the function room has not yet been restored. Hopefully it will be later in the year.

Eric Leach

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Your chance to help shape the future of the centre of West Ealing – come along to the Drayton Court on Tuesday at 6.45pm

West Ealing Neighbours is a big supporter of the new West Ealing Centre Neighbourhood Forum (WECNF).  WECNF became a designated public body on 27 March 2013. The forum is a collection of people who live, work or have an interest in the centre of West Ealing who are working together to create a 15 year plan for the area. WECNF operates under the auspices of the 2011 Localism Act.

The public launch and first Annual General Meeting of the forum starts at 6:45pm on Tuesday 18 June at the Drayton Court Hotel in The Avenue. A 12 person Management Committee will be elected at this meeting.

Everyone is welcome to attend the launch/AGM.

You can apply for forum membership and find our more about the forum here

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Traders and residents invited to hear about plans for West Ealing centre

On Tuesday 22 January 2013 at 5:30pm at SiLVA Cafe, 148 Broadway, West Ealing local traders are being invited to hear about plans to re-invigorate our High Street.

Anyone can attend – just turn up. The more the merrier. We all need to hear and discuss everyone’s views.

David Highton, Chair of WEN, will be discussing current and future WEN initiatives as well as outlining some London Borough of Ealing (LBE) proposals, which WEN and other local stakeholders have been working on. These include vacant shop initiatives, a business hub, pop up businesses, events and markets.

Eric Leach, Chair of West Ealing Centre Neighbourhood Forum (WECNF), will be discussing the forum’s programme to create a detailed, 15 year spatial plan for the centre of West Ealing. These include policies for social provision, movement, Crossrail, housing and of course the High Street. LBE has a set of movement proposals; WECNF has its own plans; and local businesses have their own ideas too! Initiatives to be discussed include increased car parking, pedestrian improvements, accommodating cyclists, improved bus services, taking full advantage of the arrival of West Ealing Crossrail and better traffic flows.

Matthew McMillan Chief Executive of Ealing Broadway Business Improvement District (EBBID) will explain what a BID is all about. West Ealing Traders’  Association (WETA), WEN. WECNF and LBE are all keen for local traders to form a West Ealing Centre BID organisation.

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Healthcare in the Ealing of 2013

Most of  Ealing’s Healthcare Services Will be Managed by NHS General Practitioners: Just How is this Going to Work? 

In six months’ time, a committee dominated by Ealing General Practioner (GP) doctors in the maelstrom of the expiring Ealing Primary Care Trust (PCT) will be running much of Ealing’s NHS healthcare provision. 

 NHS Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group (ECCG) is primarily a group of Ealing GPs who will be responsible for designing and provisioning local health services in Ealing. They will do this by commissioning or buying health services and care services including: 

+ Mental health and learning disability services

+ Urgent and emergency care

+ Most community health services

+ Rehabilitation care

+ Elective hospital care 

Any qualified provider can bid to provide these services. Allegedly at least three Ealing community health services were required to be handed over to any qualified provider in September 2012. I have yet to discover which services they were.

 There are 217 doctors practicing at 84 GP surgeries in Ealing. The largest GP surgery is Queens Walk Surgery, Pitshanger with nine doctors. There are 18 surgeries with a single doctor, and six of these are in Southall. Southall has by far the most GP surgeries with 25, followed by Acton with 12. The complete geographic distribution is as follows:

 25: Southall

12:Acton

10: Northolt

9: Ealing W5

7: Greenford

7: Hanwell

6:West Ealing

3: Chiswick

2: Hounslow

2: Perivale

1:Cranford

 I have been unable to discover just how these the ECCG doctors intend to organise themselves individually or collectively to ‘provide’ the healthcare services listed above. No doubt with just a few months to go their plans will be well advanced. I have attended two recent public meetings (26 September and 11 October) at which the ECCG Chair was billed to speak and answer questions on this topic, but she failed to show up at either meeting. What has Dr Mohini Parmar got to hide? 

We are led to believe that as many as 55,500 residents throughout NW London have expressed doubts in writing about a radical restructuring of NHS services and facilities throughout the region.

 However in Ealing we have not been consulted or even informed on how our GPs intend to manage the delivery of healthcare to us in just 6 months’ time. Will it be outsourced – like the still floundering CircleHealth-managed Hinchinbrook Hospital– to a private contractor or contractors? If it will, who is the company or companies? To whom will this company/companies be accountable? Do the private companies lined up or signed up for this outsourced management work include Serco, Virgin Healthcare, Circle Health, Spire, General Healthcare Group and BMI Healthcare?

 Will the CCG engage a private healthcare management company to provide some or all of these healthcare services? Alternatively will GP practices group together and perhaps fund and form (or are forming) new local healthcare administration and management companies? Finally will some GP practices hire in staff and elect to administer and manage their own post PCT operations themselves? 

After seven years’ medical study and training doctors can become GPs. GP practices are probably run by the lead GP partner/ owner GP with possible administrative support from a GP partner or non-medical administrator. GPs always seem very busy when I consult one. One wonders how GPs will find the time to serve effectively and work with peers to manage the £90 million + annual Ealing healthcare budget. If Ealing CCG were to outsource, for example,  its £10 million annual mental health disorders services budget would CCG members have the experience and skills to manage this? It’s unlikely that many Ealing GPs will have any private sector large company procurement experience.

For something as important as life and death and good health and poor health, we need to research and evaluate how our local healthcare is to be organised and provided. And as National Insurance payers and the NHS pay masters, we need to be happy with the arrangements we discover. 

‘Public Health Ealing’: What is it and How Might it Work by April 2013? 

Public Health is about helping people to stay healthy and avoid becoming ill, so it includes work on a whole range of policy areas such as immunisation, nutrition, tobacco, drugs recovery, sexual health, pregnancy and children’s health. As part of the restructuring of the NHS, Public Health England is being established as part of the Department of Health. ‘Public Health Ealing’ will be part of this and be operational by April 2013. Jackie Chin is now Director of Public Health at the London Borough of Ealing (LBE). 

£18 million is apparently the 2013/4 annual spend for Public Health Ealing and LBE has already announced that 50% of it will be spent on sexual health services and drug and alcohol services. 

Who Will Represent Patients’ and Carers’ Interests in Ealing?

Of course this is also changing. Over the last four years Ealing Local Involvement Network (LINk), under the stewardship of Beth Hales, and the administration of Hestia has performed statutory patient representation in Ealing. In the shiny new world of the Lansley/Hunt NHS, these two will be replaced in April 2013 by Ealing Local HealthWatch to be run by Carmel Cahill and Ealing Community Voluntary Services (based at Lido House,West Ealing). The new organisation will: 

+ Represent the views of patients, carers and the public on the LBE Ealing Health and Wellbeing Board

+ Provide a complaints advocacy service to support people who make a complaint about services.

+ Report concerns about the quality of healthcare to HealthWatchEnglandwho can then recommend that the Ealing CCG take action.

 

 

 Eric Leach

2 November 2012

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Packed Town Hall lambasts NHS plans for Ealing Hospital

300 Lambast NHS at Public ‘Save our Hospitals’ Debate

300 people packed Victoria Hall at Ealing Town Hall last night (26 September 2012) and vented their fury at NHS plans to decimate healthcare services at Ealing Hospital and throughout the north  west London region. 

Residents, Councillors, NHS staff, trades unionists and MPs were massively critical about the contents of the plans and the inadequacy of the public consultation. It appears that the risk assessment and the equality impact assessment are both flawed and incomplete. 

Emerging from the fog of rhetoric from NHS bosses it is now crystal clear that the NHS wants to re-purpose Ealing Hospital as (what we all view as) just a clinic. No more babies would ever be born at Ealing Hospital – truly ironic now as Ealing Hospital Maternity Unit is the best performing one in the whole region. The sick, wounded and dying will be turned away from its doors for treatment. Nine of the 11 major types of healthcare services will be axed at the hospital. 

Money versus Lives

A massive consensus emerged quickly amongst the audience that whatever the NHS bosses said to the contrary, the proposed cuts were about cutting £1 billion from the region’s NHS healthcare costs by 2015. 5,600 people will lose their jobs and there will be fewer hospital beds available.To dress up what might well be good intentioned aspirations as ‘proposals to improve your local NHS services’ was viewed with much cynicism by the meeting attendees. 

Ealing Hospital is Southall Hospital

Ealing Hospital is in so many ways Southall Hospital. Southall residents and Ealing Hospital staff over and over again voiced their horror at the planned destruction of their hospital. Southall has the highest rates of diabetes, tuberculosis and coronary disease in Ealing. Of all hospitals in the region, Ealing Hospital is the one most used by its immediately local residents. A Cardiologist at Ealing and Hammersmith Hospitals claimed that the serious healthcare problems in Southall had existed for 20 years but had never been addressed. He said that he and many, many of his medical consultant colleagues believed that the plans are unworkable. A lady spoke who had worked at Ealing Hospital Accident and Emergency for 25 years. She was concerned about Southall’s hidden population ie illegal immigrants. If Ealing Hospital effectively or actually closes down just how and where will the thousands of hidden (‘beds in sheds?’) population receive treatment she asked. 

A Southall Councillor claimed that 10,000s of Southall residents without internet access and/or English language skills were being excluded from this public consultation. He asked for many more translations of the 80 pages proposals and the 15 page response form. Southall Library was supplied with just 50 copies of the consultation and response form documents. This was clearly totally inadequate for the 70,000 who live in  Southall. He requested a three month extension to the consultation period. An NHS boss declined his request. 

‘Out of Hospital’ Strategy Flawed

Three of the  eight (yes eight) proposed ‘care settings’ is what many might call community healthcare. This is called ‘out of hospital’ by the NHS and comprises (in NHS jargon) GP practices, a care network (whatever that might be) and health centres. Many residents and NHS staff voiced very real concerns about why there were no details at all about how and where this community ‘out of hospital’ care would take place and the resourcing and facilities needed to provide this care..

A resident had viewed an NHS NW London risk assessment document incompetently left on a desk after a meeting. To her horror she read: 

‘Out of hospital strategy – CODE RED

What are we going to do about it?  – a blank space was the response ’ 

Travelling

The NHS said that their research states that average journey time from patient pick up to delivery to a hospital in London(or Ealing perhaps?) by ambulance with blue lights flashing was 11.4 minutes. The maximum journey time was 30 minutes. These figures were met by howls of derision. No figures were provided as to the average waiting time for an ambulances in Ealing or the projected waiting times for an ambulance should Ealing A&E close down. A Hanwell Councillor made the point that many of us drive our sick loved ones to Ealing Hospital, and with no flashing blue light travel times to Ealing, Hillingdon, Northwick Park or West Middlesex Hospitals would be much longer. He asked NHS bosses what percentage of Ealing Hospital A&E admissions were delivered by car/taxi? No answer was forthcoming. A lady weighed in with the fact that you need to use three different bus services to get from Southall to Northwick Park Hospital. 

Many made the point that healthcare travellers are not just patients but family and friends. Research showed that regular attendance by loved ones at hospital bedsides speeds up the process of recovery from illness and injury. 

Untested Strategy

A resident of Harrow pointed out that the proposed radical restructuring of healthcare provisioning in our region has not been attempted anywhere else in England. The NHS has admitted that there is no evidence at all that this strategy could or will work. 

The Silence of Ealing GPs

No-one in the audience had any evidence that Ealing GPs supported the proposed changes. This is ironic as in April 2013 Ealing GPs (in the nascent NHS Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group – ECCG) will take over from the NHS Ealing PCT and run Ealing NHS healthcare. A GP actually questioned why Ealing GPs had not been asked their opinions on the proposals by the ECCG. As the ECCG Chair was absent no answer was forthcoming. 

NHS – Are You Listening?

40,000 people have signed petitions opposing the cuts.

On 15 September 2012, 1,000s marched through Ealing Town centre and even more rallied on Ealing Common to show and voice their opposition.

All the region’s MPs, Councillors, Councils, Trades Unions and many, many residents’ and community groups have voiced their opposition to the proposed cuts. 

Notable Absentees

Billed to appear as a speaker was Dr Mohini Parmar, Chair Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group (ECCG). This NHS GP Commissioning Group will replace NHS Ealing PCT and run NHS healthcare in Ealing in just seven month’s time. But, she was nowhere to be seen. 

The local MP Angie Bray was also absent. A speaker from the floor suggested that if Ms Bray was truly serious about resisting the proposed cuts (which the speaker fervently believed emanated from the Tory lead Government’s plans to save £20 billion annual NHS costs) she should resign if the cuts went ahead. 

Given that the meeting was one the largest (perhaps the largest) public debates on the restructuring of healthcare for a generation, across 100 square miles and applicable to two million people in London, London Mayor Boris Johnson should have attended the meeting. Many asked why Mr Johnson is so quiet on this life and death issue of healthcare in the capital. 

Ealing Council Independent Review of NHS Plans

Ealing Council has commissioned a former NHS Chief Executive Tim Rideout to carry out an urgent, independent review of the NHS NW London plans. Ealing Council announced last night that Mr Rideout’s view is that the plans are not robust and are therefore unsafe and open to challenge. A draft of the review exists now but the final version will be placed in the public domain by 5 October 2012. 

Has the NHS Got It Right?

Numbers and percentages were thrown around like confetti both by NHS bosses and by those opposing the changes. Clearly the numbers (beds, nurses, clinicians, costs, admissions, travel times etc) are very important. But the overwhelmingly the  feeling I had as I left the meeting was that we were all being asked to take part in a huge, unprecedented, human experiment – and none of were confident that it was all worth the risk. 

Eric Leach

Hanwell resident

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More than1,000 march through Ealing to save local hospital

Saturday 15 September 2012 may well prove to be a red letter day as far as cuts to local NHS healthcare services. I, with my wife and eldest son joined some 1,000 people who marched from Southall to Ealing Common along the Uxbridge Road. There we were joined by some 400 people who had marched from Acton to Ealing Common. The 1,400 or so people who attended the rally on the Common enjoyed speeches for all three Ealing MPs, Hammersmith’s Labour MP Andy Slaughter, Ealing’s Council Leader and senior Trade Unionists. As ever the most rousing and passionate speech came from Steve Pound Ealing North’s Labour MP. Not surprisingly Ealing Central and Acton’s Conservative MP Angie Bray got a mixed reaction from the crowd.

This is the largest protest march and rally I have ever seen in Ealing – and I have lived here more or less continuously for over 40 years.

Many of the marchers waived placards, blew noisy horns and one of them was banging a very loud drum. Young and old, rich and poor, Tories, Labour supporters, LibDems, Councillors, MPs, socialists, NHS staff, teachers’ unions, and many Southall residents took part. Southall is the most deprived part of the borough and has the highest prevalence of diabetes, tuberculosis and coronary heart disease in Ealing.

Ealing Conservatives were very active in distributing copies of the 80 page NHS NW London consultation document along with a simple guide on how to ‘legally’ express your view to retain Ealing Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department.

Eric Leach

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Local people to plan the centres of Ealing and West Ealing

According to the new Localism Act local people will soon be able to assemble a Neighbourhood Forum of 21 people or more who will discuss and propose the design of their local area. Save Ealing Centre (SEC), an alliance of 25 residents’ and community groups, has proposed the setting up of two Neighbourhood Forums – one for Ealing centre and one for West Ealingcentre. As part of these initiatives in 2011, SEC sought funding from national government, which if successful would amount to £40,000. We’ll hear soon whether this bid has been successful.

Neighbourhood Forums are required to be made up of a representative group of local stakeholders. I expect residents’ groups, community groups, businesses, faith groups, educational establishments and infrastructure providers to attend and contribute to these forum meetings.

These forum meetings are likely to be a breath of fresh air as they are likely to be the first such regular meetings in modern times at which local people/traders/service providers will be asked about how they want their town centres to be preserved, re-used and /or ‘developed’. These will be difficult discussions in which trade-offs between different needs – like quality of life, culture, healthcare, education, law and order, business and housing – will have to be thrashed out.

Unsurprisingly there are whole ‘rafts’ of planning legislation which the forums will have to wrestle with. At national level we have the newly proposed NationalPlanning PolicyFramework. At regional level we have the new version of The London Plan. At town level we have Ealing Council’s draft Local Development Framework Core Strategy (LDF CS). National government will decide whether it wants to accept Ealing’s LDF CS in early 2012.

All these planning policies contain a presumption in favour of property development, which seems somewhat out of place in a country with massive debts, a depressed construction industry and with no prospects of any significant economic growth for years to come. However it appears that no major political party wants to adopt a common sense policy of making the best use of what we’ve got.

The Localism Act will become fully enabled by April 2012. Neighbourhood Forums have a lifetime of five years. To find out more about Neighbourhood Forums and the Localism Bill you’ll find a useful briefing at www.urbanforum.org.uk/briefings/localism-act-briefing. To track progress of these Ealing Neighbourhood Forum  initiatives see SEC’s web site at www.saveealingscentre.com and West Ealing Neighbours’ web site at www.westealingneighbours.org.uk.

 

Eric Leach

3 January 2012

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Pedestrian Safety at the Lido Junction: The Public Have Their Say

On Tuesday 6 December 2011 some 50 people attended a public meeting to discuss Ealing Council’s proposals to make the Lido Junction safe for pedestrians – for the first time in living memory. West Ealing Neighbours (WEN) organised the meeting and it was WEN (along with Five Roads and Kingsdown Residents’ groups) who researched and published its findings and recommendations on the junction in 2009. This report in fact stimulated the Council and Transport (TfL) for London into action.

We are in the middle of a public consultation on the proposals and Councillor Mahfouz, the Council’s Transport Czar, answered questions posed by the audience on the proposals.

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