Category: Eric Leach

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Government Examines Ealing’s 15 Year Plan – A40 Corridor and Park Royal

As part of an ongoing series, Eric Leach reports from the Independent Examination of Ealing Council’s 2026 Local Development Framework Core Strategy (LDF CS).

DAY 3 – Thursday 3 November 2011

Government Inspector Elizabeth Fieldhouse this morning examined Ealing Council’s plans for the A40 Corridor and Park Royal in front of a dwindling audience of residents’ community groups and two land owners. Consistent with the rest of the Ealing Local Development Framework Core Strategy the thrust of the plans are for new housing (3,000+ units).

Ealing Council provided a useful update on high speed upgrade Continue reading “Government Examines Ealing’s 15 Year Plan – A40 Corridor and Park Royal”

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Government Examines Ealing’s 15 Year Plan – Day 2 – Housing

As part of an ongoing series, Eric Leach reports from the Independent Examination of Ealing Council’s 2026 Local Development Framework Core Strategy (LDF CS).

DAY 2 – Wednesday 2 November 2011

HOUSING

Less than 20 people assembled today for the second day of Planning Inspector Fieldhouse’s public examination of Ealing’s Local Development Framework Core Strategy (LDF CS). This document outlines the Borough’s spatial strategy – ie how land will be used – over the next 15 years.

The London Mayor tells us that London’s population will increase by 1.3 million by 2031. In order to accommodate these people 32,000 new homes need to be built each year in London.

Continue reading “Government Examines Ealing’s 15 Year Plan – Day 2 – Housing”

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Government Examines Ealing’s 15 year Plan – Day 1- Overall Context, Vision and Objectives

As part of an ongoing series, Eric Leach reports from the Independent Examination of Ealing Council’s 2026 Local Development Framework Core Strategy (LDF CS).

DAY 1 – Tuesday 1 November 2011

OVERALL  CONTEXT, VISION AND OBJECTIVES

Some 30 people assembled in Ealing Town Hall for the first day of the Ealing Council 2026 Local Development Framework Core Strategy (LDF CS) Independent Examination. The Government’s Planning Inspectorate Inspector is Elizabeth Fieldhouse. Eight local residents’ and community groups were represented. Five Council Officers fielded questions throughout the day but by far the leading speaker was Steve Barton head of Planning Policy. A Council in-house lawyer also attended the proceedings

The Day 1 agenda covered Overall Context, Vision and Objectives.

Continue reading “Government Examines Ealing’s 15 year Plan – Day 1- Overall Context, Vision and Objectives”

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Government Reviews Ealing’s 15 Year Plans

On 1st November 2011 we have the beginning of National Government’s External Examination of Ealing Council’s spatial plans for the town over the next 15 years. Specifically under examination is Ealing’s Local Development Framework Core Strategy. You can examine this here (pdf).

At the heart of Ealing’s plans are the building of 14,000 new homes, almost 10,000 of which will be along the Uxbridge Road/Crossrail ‘Corridor’ and clustered around Acton, Southall, West Ealing and Ealing Broadway Stations.

Continue reading “Government Reviews Ealing’s 15 Year Plans”

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Ealing Public Have Their Say About August Riots

Around 150 people turned up at Ealing Town Hall on the evening of Monday 17 October 2011 to give evidence to both a national and a local Riot Panel. The meeting lasted two and a half hours.

Everyone was given the chance to speak on what happened on the night of 8/9 August; why it happened; and what needs to be done to prevent it happening again.

Continue reading “Ealing Public Have Their Say About August Riots”

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Gold Plating the Grass in Walpole Park – Councillor Taylor Style

Instead of joining his fellow Ealing residents online at Ealing Today to debate the merits of spending £4.4 million on Walpole Park, Conservative Councillor Phil Taylor has just referred us all to his blog. His reveals his anger at myself and Arthur Breens in questioning Ealing Council’s spending plans for the park.

Continue reading “Gold Plating the Grass in Walpole Park – Councillor Taylor Style”

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Residents up in arms about new 24-hour gym in West Ealing

The Daniels Family persuaded Ealing Council in 2003 to allow them to knock down their 100 year old department store on the Uxbridge Road in West Ealing and build a new one on the same site. Oh, and they were allowed to build 137 new flats on top of it. The flats got built in 2007 but Daniels declined to occupy the store space, as did everyone else for over four years. The space was boarded up until a few weeks ago. 

A gym is planning to open in the space in November 2011. On the face of it, it seemed better have some use of the space than to have the space unused. However we’ve just discovered that Ealing Council is to allow the gym to be open for 24 hours every day. Also the owners of the gym expect 6,000 gym members (paying £15 per month), and 600 of them using the gym after 10:00pm. However there are no plans to employ any gym staff after 8:00pm every evening. 

Clearly some of these gym users will drive to the area. But where would they park? There are CPZs to the immediate north and south and a very small nearby Council car park in Arden Road. 

Apart from the flat dwellers above the gym and five day time opening shops across the road no-one locally was consulted about the 24 hour opening of the gym. Local residents are livid about this. Not only have they had to put up with riots, looting, shootings, stabbings, violence, urinatings, late night noisy drunken revellers – now they have to put up with the comings and goings of 100s of gym attendees all through the night. 

A campaigning group objecting to the plans and the lack of consultation has been set up by local residents. Contact them at www.ResidentsUnite.co.uk

 Eric Leach

14 September 2011

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What Does Ealing Council Have Against Felix Road Residents?

Felix Road runs east /west to the immediate north of Green Man Lane Estate (GMLE) and with the Paddington to Bristol railway line to the north. For years and years traffic congestion, rat running, residents’ parking problems and road rage have all been common along the road.

Famously in 2009 Ealing Council built two new portacabin classrooms stacked on top of each other overlooking houses and flats at the road’s eastern end without going through any public consultation. Now, again without any consultation or notice a huge amount of the road has been yellow lined, making residents’ parking impossible.

Four Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) Public Consultations have been held in the area in recent years. The latest one, completed months ago, voted 61% in favour of a CPZ. However no timescale for implementation has been given to residents.

Finally Ealing Council granted planning permission in 2010 for the 700+ new homes development of GMLE along with increased access to Felix Road. Over the next eight years another 1,200 GMLE residents will attract even more traffic along Felix Road.

Just why isit that Ealing Council consistently wants to pour grief down on Felix Road residents?

 

Eric Leach

 

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Property Developers are Ecstatic about New Planning Proposals. I Wonder Why?

Along with the draft Localism Bill, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) promises to simplify planning law and empower residents to have more say in how land is used in their own neighbourhoods. All very laudable intentions. However all of this draft legislation is based upon and biased towards economic growth. In the NPPF there is a presumption in favour of development. Development in Ealing, as we all know, means demolition and new build (mostly of private sale flats)

Growth is stalled in the UK and none of us really believe experts who tell us that economic growth is just around the corner. So do the plans facilitate us all making the best use of what we’ve got? Oh no. With 1.8 million people on Council Housing lists throughout the country one might expect that the new draft plan to directly address this social housing shortfall – but a sadly it doesn’t.

You can make your own mind up about these new national plans and submit your feedback at:

www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuildings/draftframework

Also Eric Leach has his own colourful slant on the proposals which you can view here.