Working together to make West Ealing a better place for residents, businesses and visitors.
The new Lidl store in West Ealing opens its doors on Thursday 20th February.
Sainsbury’s will close an hour earlier at 9pm Monday to Saturday from Monday 3rd March. Is this a result of an increase in business rates and employer national insurance making that last hour from 9-10pm uneconomic?
An area in West Ealing south from Sainsbury’s in Melbourne Ave has been cordoned off by the police following a serious incident last night. It’s not clear exactly where the incident was and what happened but it must be serious for such a large area to be cordoned off. Roads closed include Melbourne Ave, Regina Road, St James Ave, Adelaide rd, St Kilda Road and Oaklands Road.
Tuesday 10.15am
Update 1pm
According to the MyLondon news website a man was stabbed and killed in the Oaklands Road area of Hanwell last night
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St James Church has been unoccupied since the summer of 2018. All manner of ideas have been proposed for its use but it looks like the Church of England wanted to keep it as a religious venue.
Just before Christmas we suddenly saw scaffolding going up and builders’ trucks coming and going. It didn’t take long for information to emerge about the building being taken over by the Assyrian Church, St Mary’s Cathedral, which was until very recently in Hanwell.
Their website has full information about their faith and all their activities in the community.The formal opening will be on the weekend of the 15th and 16th February so no wonder there’s so much work going on to be ready in time.
It’s a relief to see the building brought back into use, so we welcome the new church to our local community.
Your Voice Your Town is a Council run initiative to involve local residents in some key decisions for their area. It fills a bit of the gap left when the ward forums were stopped a few years ago.
For Ealing, Feeling Safe was chosen as the top priority, as voted by local people who either live, work and/or study in Ealing Town. There were 468 votes cast, and the most votes went to – Feeling Safe (27.4%) with Community Facilities (27.1%) closely behind. Thank you to everyone who took the time to cast their vote.
There is a two-hour workshop on Thursday 13th February from 7-9pm at The Atrium, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, Ealing W5 2HL.The workshop is designed to create a vision for an Ealing area where people have an increased feeling of safety, where you get to define what that looks like, and share how you can be part of creating that change. Whether you have practical suggestions, creative ideas, or a passion for community improvement, your input is invaluable. Ealing’s elected ward councillors, council officers, and other stakeholders will be present to offer their support as the conversation unfolds. Please register your place at this workshop via this Eventbrite page, before 5pm, Monday 10 February.
It will be an open space that welcomes individuals of all backgrounds, levels of experience, ability and knowledge. Ealing has a fund of £120,000 and the support of local skills, resources and expertise to be invested in community-led projects.
If you cannot attend but would like to be kept informed about Your Voice, Your Town visit the council’s website.
1.Chair’s report
David Highton, chair, gave a brief report on the past year. He started by saying that when WEN started in 2006 there was very little time spent on considering major developments. In the first years, WEN got involved in activities such as preserving the heritage lampposts, improving pedestrian safety at the Lido Junction and helping establish the arts centre OPEN Ealing. Now, most of our time is spent on major developments – many of which are on tonight’s agenda.
There are two other recent activities he wanted to highlight. Firstly, the efforts made to tackle anti-social behaviour within the O’Grady Court sheltered flats (above the library) which has spilt over on to Melbourne Avenue. A number of agencies were involved and the result is that Peabody Housing which manages the flats has employed security guards to prevent non-residents getting in to the building. Secondly, the library was facing possible closure as it was proving too much for OPEN Ealing to run alongside their arts centres. Neither the Council nor OPEN wants to close the library but a way forward needs to be found. In response to this, WEN helped bring together some dozen interested groups and residents. They met on Monday (21st October) and out of this came a group willing to look at the vision and appropriate governance for the library. This is an encouraging first step towards finding a solution to keeping the library open and enabling it to be at the heart of our local community.
WEN has also been active in supporting efforts to save Victoria Hall, secure the future of Warren Farm and play a part in Save Ealing’s Centre’s work. Finally, WEN has an active book club and an Abundance project selling its own apple juice through a local deli.
Accounts
Thanks to our treasurer, Andrew Cazalet, for producing the accounts. As at the end of December 2023 WEN has £1324 in the bank. With the cost of this meeting and the one held in February there will be very little left in the bank. Contributions towards the cost of this meeting would be very gratefully received.
Election of committee members
David Highton said the three existing post holders of Chair (David Highton), Vice Chair (Eric Leach) and treasurer (Andrew Cazalet) were silling to stand again. Ian Potts proposed the three and Gillian Brown seconded this.
New committee members
Finally, David Highton thanked all the current members of the committee for their hard work over the past year. He stressed the importance to WEN’s future of new people joining the committee to bring new ideas, enthusiasm and energy.
2. Public Meeting
This part of the meeting was chaired by Eric Leach.
Leeland Terrace
This a part completed development in Maitland Yard/Dean Gardens car park off Leeland Terrace. The builder Henry went bust some time ago. Cllr Manro said the Council is still looking for a builder to take over. In response to a question, he said there are no plans to demolish and start again. No time scale yet for the works to re-start.
Green Man Lane Estate
Phase 4 will be 396 homes and is still being reviews by the GLA. After the first contractor went bust the new contractor building the town houses on Felix Road is nearing completion with the first residents having moved in.
Gurnell
Plans include 295 homes in five towers. The new planning application should be submitted by the Council early next year. Cllr Polly Knewstub spoke about the plans and was confident that a top quality project, including a new swimming pool, would be delivered. She also talked about the different ways funds could be raised to cover the costs.
Kwik Fit
This development is for shared living ( a bit like student accommodation) for people of all ages. It will be 134 co-living studio flats in towers up to 9 storeys. Eric Leach raised questions about how this would work in practice and mentioned a similar development where this idea had not worked and had been dropped.
Cllr Manro said the developers for this site are ones which do get on with the work so likely to start soon.
Faulty Towers
This refers to the three tower blocks being built within close proximity of each other – Waitrose, Manor Road and the Majestic Wine site. The councillors didn’t comment on the likely traffic chaos caused by the three simultaneous developments in Manor Road (tower next to station), Hastings Road (Tide Towers) and Alexandria Road for Waitrose.
Tide Tower
This is the old Majestic Wine Warehouse site. Plans are for 448 student bedsits in four towers up to 13 storeys high. The demolition phase has been completed and building work has begun.
Waitrose
The planning application is for 428 homes in six towers – the tallest approaching the height of Big Ben.
The planning application for this development was not determined by the Council within the required timeframe. As a result, John Lewis Partnership has taken it to the Planning Inspectorate to rule for a decision. The Council has decided not to contest this. However, Save The Towers is contesting it and is seeking funds to help it cover its costs.
In response to some strong views on the Council’s decision not to contest this , Cllr Manro explained that the Council required a minimum of 30% affordable homes on this site. The plans had only 20%. The council believe it was negotiating in good faith with John Lewis only ‘to have the rug pulled from beneath it’ by John Lewis. He went on to say that the cost of contesting this application could run in to some £100,000s and this was considered to be too much and not a good use of the Council’s limited resources. He also added that another John Lewis development had proposed just 10% affordable housing and this had been accepted by the local borough, so this would not have helped Ealing Council’s case.
Cllr Manro then made a wider point about how difficult it is for the Council to meet its own targets for affordable housing. They are only managing to reach half their annual target of 2,000 affordable homes a year. The period of austerity and inflation had pushed a number of builders in to bankruptcy and this had slowed down building these homes. In addition, the costs to housing associations of both the fire remediation work post-Grenfell and repairing existing stock because of mould and damp mean that housing associations have much less money for new builds.
Stop The Towers
Justine Sulliivan, co-chair of Stop The Towers, outlined why they were willing to represent Ealing residents in opposing John Lewis’s plans for the Waitrose site. She was strongly of the view that if this case was lost then the whole borough would feel the impact of these massive style developments and would be powerless to stop them. The Government Inquiry starts on 19th November. Save The Towers needs financial help to pay its lawyers. Visit their website https://stopthetowers.info to find out how you can help.
Commuter Congestion
Eric Leach commented that the rush hour trains of the Elizabeth Line are already crowded by the time they reach West Ealing. The pressure will only increase with the 7,000 or so new homes being built in Southall on the old gas works site along with the towers by West Ealing station. He put in a plea for the Council to lobby for more trains on this western branch of the Elizabeth Line.
Old Woolworths site
Still a pile of rubble with no sign of action. Cllr Manro believed this site is still for sale and so no timescale when this site will be developed.
Manor Road Towers
144 flats in two towers – 12 and 18 storeys high. Work is back underway after the initial building contractor went bust.
St James Place
144 flats with towers up to 16 storeys. This is the same developer as for the Kwik Fit site so work should start fairly soon.
Electricity and Water Supply
There were some strong views on the potential problems and likelihood of a shortage of these two utilities. A question from the audience highlighted the impact of data centres on electricity supply (one data centre requires on average enough electricity to supply 50,000 homes). What was the Council doing to secure adequate supplies of both water and electricity? Cllr Manro’s argument was that building would continue and the supplies would have to be provided. The Council could not stop trying to build the homes required for the borough because of this.
Lammas Park
A lot of concern as to just what is happening with the drainage works, the lack of information on the scale of the works and the worries about children’s safety near the newly created ponds. Cllr Gareth Shaw explained that the project was being undertaken with the Environment Agency and was about capturing and slowly releasing excess water from the surrounding area. Work has stopped as a new planning application is required to complete the works. Once complete the works will be connected to the Thames Water system. In terms of safety, Cllr Shaw explained that the planting around the edges of the ponds would act as a deterrent to children to stop them getting too close to the water. There were concerns expressed about loss of green space and a lack of consultation.
David Highton for the WEN committee
29th October 2024
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Background to Ealing’s housing needs
Cllr Shital Manro, Cabinet Member for Good Growth and New Homes, outlined Ealing’s situation. The borough has a major shortage of housing. It is not meeting its housing target of 2175 homes a year in the London Plan. There are:
1.Major developments in West Ealing
Arden Road – a legal dispute with the next door church over access to parking spaces so work delayed until this resolved
Chignell Place – quite a few applications put in but none have been acceptable to the Council so far. Awaiting a decent proposal.
Maitland Yard/Dean Gardens car park – Builders Henry have gone bust. The Council is putting the work out to tender again.
Felix Road – An A2Dominion development as part of the Green Man Lane Estate. Again, the builder Real has gone bust. It is the responsibility of A2Dominion and Rydon to find a new contractor.
Complaints about blocked pavement on south side of Felix Road due to stalled development. The Council is trying to resolve this to re-open footpath. Also a complaint about rubble dumped on children’s playground. Cllr Manro not aware of this but will look in to it. (WEN to track these actions)
Green Man Lane Estate – development stalled due to rising costs and builder Real going bust. Complaint about Bramley Road being blocked which Cllr Manro will look in to. (WEN to track this action)
Gurnell – Cllr Polly Knewstub, Cabinet Member for Thriving Communities, said this is the Council’s own site. A new 50m swimming pool will be part of the redevelopment of the leisure centre. The Council will be submitting a proposal for the whole site, to include housing, in mid-March.
Kwik Fit – the developer has now bought the site next door so has submitted a new application. Comments due by 7th March
Majestic Wine Warehouse– an application is in for student accommodation. Questions asked as to why students and not housing for residents?
Manor Road – builder Henry has gone bust. Whilst looking for a new contractor MTVH have amended the design to include a 2nd staircase. Aware it’s a difficult site next to railway line. Hope to start work again in about two months. Question about site hoarding blocking footpath – MTVH to check on this. (WEN to track this action)
St James Church – awaiting information from local diocese about its future
St James Place/Artist’s Corner – application in and comments deadline is 21st February. No comments yet received. Query raised about building over part of St James Ave and creating an unsafe area at night similar to Melbourne Avenue
Waitrose – original application was not supported by the Council as not enough affordable housing. Awaiting new application but doubts raised given the change at top of John Lewis. Will the new management team continue with their housing plans?
Shops near Costa in high street – no application received but suggestion from owner of nearby shop that it will become a special needs school
Woolworths site – long empty and now bought by a new developer
2.Dean Gardens – part way through construction of a rain garden funded by Thames Water. Much unhappiness with its current waterlogged state. A handout made available explaining the next stages of its development
3. Electricity supply
West Ealing has had a series of recent power cuts and a major fire at the Dean Gardens sub station. SSE not able to send a representative to the meeting but have given an update. Cllr Manro explained what the Council has been doing to try to alleviate the pressure on power supply, especially given all the housing development across the borough.
Later: see below for information provided by Scottish and Southern Energy Networks about power supplies.
4. Uxbridge Road – Cllr Polly Knewstub said there will not be a segregated cycle lane as not enough room, She recognized the need for better enforcement on the question of cars parked on yellow lines and hoped this would improve soon with the new in-house enforcement team starting in a few months
5. Leighton Road/Elthorne Park Road
Cllr Paul Driscoll said rumours of road closures and £1.5M to be spent on redesigning the roads are false. He has been talking to a residents group on this road about the problems of the 1 Million plus vehicle movements a year along these roads. Still early days and no plans or proposals yet and no plan to close the road altogether. Worth noting that Swycombe Ave was closed by Hounslow Council and Ealing Council has been unable to persuade them to re-open it.
6. Policing – this was raised by a number of people. A lot of dissatisfaction with the current state of policing in the area with anti-social behaviour and drug dealing a common problem. Cllr Knewstub aware of these concerns. One suggestion is to attend the Safer Neighbourhood police meetings held in each ward. (WEN to publicise these)
7. West Ealing Library
Cllr Knewstub announced that OPEN Ealing is in final stages of negotiation to take on the library from start of April.
8. Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy
Cllr Manro admitted that the Council had not had the systems in place to track where Section 106 moneys had been spent. However, this will soon change with new systems coming in. Also, later than most other London Boroughs, the Council will start to charge CIL on new developments.
David Highton for WEN
19th February 2024
Power Supply – information from SSE provided by Regional Customer Relationship Manager for Scottish and Southern Energy Networks
‘Thank you for inviting us to attend the meeting on 15th February. Further to our conversation last week, we are unable to attend however would like to provide an update below on the issues you raised and discussed.’
Dean Gardens substation
We would like to thank residents of West Ealing for their patience during the disruption caused on January 19th when unfortunately, one of our assets failed in the Dean Gardens area causing a power outage to some of our customers. We have since replaced this asset and are undertaking a thorough review to understand the cause of the failure alongside a review of our network circuits in the area to see what further reinforcements may be required.
Constraints
Regarding concerns around constraints on our network and connection timelines we have been an active driver of industry-wide connections reform which is aiming to accelerate investment in the grid and cut queue times.
In addition to this collaborative response to this challenge, we have also been trialing an innovative solution in West London which has helped several projects progress. This involves using a ramping approach to connect developments in increments to allow projects to progress whilst capacity becomes available.
We are working closely with both Government and industry to implement recommended solutions and approaches that will make the connections process more efficient and free up existing capacity on our network.
Local Authority engagement
We reached out to Ealing Council last year to engage with us on their net zero plans. We are planning on hosting in person workshops this Spring to support our local authorities on local area energy planning and will be in touch shortly with details on how to register for these. As part of our distribution operating area, representatives from Ealing Council will receive an invite and we would encourage them to attend if possible. This is part of our wider offering to local authorities within our license area to provide support to develop a coordinated and effective delivery strategy for the whole system and net zero initiatives that interact with our network, as part of Local Area Energy Plans. More broadly as part of our wider engagement we have been in regular conversations with the Greater London Authority.
We’re currently rolling out our new tool Local Energy Net Zero Accelerator (LENZA), for local authorities in our network area. This software provides data on network constraints, empowering planners to make better informed decisions about where to install new energy assets in their local area. We’ll be rolling this out to our local authorities in the south of England including Ealing.
If you have any questions on the above or anything else, I am more than happy to organise a meeting to discuss any of the above in more detail.’
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