After the Conservatives came to power at Ealing Council in May 2006, there has been a gradual build up of Council regeneration resources. WEN first met up with Council Officers in December 2006 to discuss West Ealing regeneration. WEN published its first paper on West Ealing regeneration in February 2007. The Council appointed Tibbalds consultants in Spring to research both W5 and W13 centres' development with a planned report delivery date of October 2007. During March 2007, the Council floated the idea of forming a West Ealing Business Improvement District (BID) to 500 W13 businesses. WEN published a document on issues surrounding the topic in March, 2007; numerous WEN newsletter articles have appeared throughout 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010; and our Public Meeting on 3rd May, 2007 was dedicated to the topic. In the summer of 2007 we produced our 2020 Vision for West Ealing and in September 2007 WEN published its 10 Point Plan for West Ealing.

Redevelopment of the Green Man Lane Estate, which is vital to the regeneration of West Ealing centre, was high on the Council's agenda throughout 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Consultants Urban Initiatives carried out research and Public Consultaton. At the end of 2007 a preferred redevelopment proposal was submitted to the Council Cabinet meeting on 29th January 2008. Wholesale redevelopment of the site was adopted as Council policy. Short form development details were circulated in March 2008 to the development/Housing Association world and those interested who wanted to be considered had to complete and return a questionnaire to Housing Officers by 15th April 2008.

The Tibbald's report was delayed to November 2007 and then delayed again. The report entered the public domain on 2nd May, 2008 and was accepted by the Council's Cabinet as 'material consideration' vis a vis planning on 6th May, 2008. WEN has written a report on the proposals for West Ealing contained in the Tibbalds Report - click on the link below to view the WEN report.

A short list of developers was prepared by the Council for bidding to re-develop the 11.5 acre Green Man Lane Estate (GMLE). It would have been interesting what developers propose as there appear to be no planning guidelines for the site. In late 2008, The Council prepared a Developer's Brief for the developers but refused to release that document into the public domain.

WEN hoped to learn more when attending the GMLE Joint Working Group meetings. Not much information flowed from these meetings. Both developers presented to GMLE residents twice in late 2008 and in February 2009. Belatedly, and irrelevantly, the Council put the Developer's Brief into the public domain on 14th March, 2009. On 7th April, 2009 Ealing Council announced that it had decided to sell the 11.5 acre site to A2Dominion/Rydon, who would submit a planning application to build a large housing estate on the site.

With the UK property market in melt-down; house builders laying off staff in their 1,000s; and loans hard to come by, it was hard to see in 2009 how any developer could seriously commit to an 11.5 acre development project within the forseeable future.

Precious little else has happened in terms of regeneration work in West Ealing centre during 2008/9. Some largely cosmetic improvements were proposed by the Council for Melbourne Avenue, St James Avenue, Leeland Road and Dean Gardens. A public consultation exercise was carried out in 2009 asking residents what changes, if any, they wanted to Dean Gardens. Closure of West Ealing Library first mooted for June 2008 actually came about in November 2008. The Library re-opened in 2009 and is a big improvement except there appear to be fewer books actually on display. West Ealing's Town Centre Manager Nick West-Oram is trying to get a West Ealing centre Traders Group underway and had a successful first meeting in May, 2009. Crossrail will arrive in West Ealing sometime before 2017. A new Crossrail Station is planned to be built in Manor Road. There are no currently details on the social and community impact on West Ealing from trains carrying up to 1,500 passengers; the termination of Greenford trains at West Ealing; and the inevitable increased vehicle traffic. WEN has learned a massive amount about national, regional and local regeneration planning law as a result of its heavy involvement in the June/July 2009 Arcadia Public Inquiry. WEN is gearing up to enable major public understanding and review of the draft West Ealing Local Development Framework which we expect Ealing Council to publish in September, 2009. As of April 2010, we have yet to locate this document. Work on Dean Gardens and Melbourne Avenue, delayed by the 2010 Winter snow, proceeds at a snails pace. No pictorial representaion of Deans Gardens 'remodelling' is on public display anywhere and WEN does wonder at the usefullness of this expenditure of £100,000s which appears to be reducing the area of green space in the gardens. WEN has worked for many months on rtying to get an Arts and Craft Market set up in St James Avenue. In April 2010 a sort of Council green light went on for just such an initiative in Melbourne Avenue. WEN has also worked very hard since mid 2009 to make Lido Junction safe for pedestrians. Slow progress, with some sloppy Council implementation, is being made. WEN has also participated in the LDF machinations. Sadly the September 2009 Ealing LDF Core Strategy Public Consultaion was poorly executed by Ealing Council. As of April 2010 Ealing Council is still clearly in denial about residents/voluntary and community groups abhorrence at 10,000 new homes in the Uxbridge Road corridor by 2026. GMLE Planning Applications were submitted in February 2010. 721 new homes and little else. However A2Dominion only submitted detailed plans for one sixth of the whole site - no doubt reflecting the country's fragile stumble out of recession. West Ealing regeneration is WEN's number one priority.

Eric Leach
Last updated 15 April, 2010