Category: Planning / regeneration

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West Ealing Arts launches its first adult art classes

The community arts project OPEN Ealing, run by West Ealing Arts, has launched its first arts classes and workshops for adults:

  • Watercolour painting on Tuesday mornings and afternoons
  • History of 20th century art on Thursday evenings from 2nd June
  • Silk painting on Saturday afternoons from June
  • Life drawing soon to start on Wednesday evenings

For details of times and costs  visit www.openealing.com or call on 020 8579 5558 or drop in at 113 Uxbridge Road on corner of Culmington Road and opposite fire station).

David Highton

 

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The changing face of our high street

Pamela Howard School of Dance: One of the new shops on our high street

The recent opening of the British Heart Foundation’s new shop (see previous post) made me think again about the changing nature of our high street. Yes, you could just say it’s yet another charity shop and we already have eight. But, it struck me that this shop is something rather different for West Ealing. Almost every time I go in to one of the charity shops it seems busy as I try to manoeuvre my way between the shoppers and the clothes rails. What BHF seem to have noticed though is that there is a complete gap in the market for a charity shop selling household goods such as electrical appliances and furniture.

Much has been written about how Britain’s high streets are changing. I
have lived in West Ealing since 1978 and, like many others, can all too easily reminisce about how West Ealing’s high street used to have a Marks and Spencer, a WH Smith, Mothercare, let alone the department stores such as FH Rowse and Daniels. But that time has gone and in the last few years the twin impact of the recession and the growth of internet shopping have undoubtedly left their mark as shops have moved out or closed down. In a recent article in the Financial Times Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said ‘Given the structural nature of these changes
there is no point harking back to the old high streets we all claimed to love. We need to be creative in looking for new roles and uses for these empty shops.”

I think BHF has been creative. We have seen new shops move in and  Lidl and Poundworld are now part of our high street. They have been joined by some rather different businesses – British Immigration Solutions and The Pamela Howard School of Dance. West Ealing Arts has opened a community arts project in an old office building a short walk away from the main shopping centre (see later article). The London Residents Forum is hoping to open the old Oxfam shop as a borough-wide resource and drop in centre for tenants.

Yes, our high street is changing, it has to, but I see these changes as a sign that the high street still has a purpose for our community. It is still trying providing goods and services that we need and want. Please let’s just make sure we cherish and use our high street and other local shopping areas.

David Highton

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A charity shop with a difference opens in West Ealing

Newly opened British Heart Foundation shop

British Heart Foundation opened the doors of its new shop today and it set me thinking about charity shops and our high street. I thought first off I’d better count how many charity shops there are along the street between the Lido Junction and the junction with Eccleston Road. I counted 8 (including the Salvation Army) plus the mystery Storefair which threatened to open back in September but has remained resolutely shut for months.

In my experience most of these shops are usually busy and you have to manoeuvre your way round them between the clothes rails and the shoppers. So, I think the BHF shop, which sells electrical goods and furniture, is a clever move as it fills a gap in what charity shops usually offer. Most charity shops won’t touch electrical goods as they have to be properly checked for safety etc. When I went in this morning it was packed both with goods and people and looking at what is on offer in BHF I was impressed. I think it will do well.

There’s a much wider question raised not just about charity shops but also about what sort of future we want for our high street? But I’ll leave that for another time.

David Highton

 

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Ealing Broadway developer Glenkerrin faces collapse

Vice Chair Eric Leach reports that according to ‘Property Week’ magazine would-be Ealing centre developer Glenkerrin is facing collapse.

Grant Thornton is expected to be appointed on 10 May as Administrators to the company’s five London properties. Irelend’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) is the instigator of this action. NAMA also appointed Grant Thornton as Receivers to the Irish Glenkerrin properties.

Glenkerrin bought up the existing Arcadia site and other properties immediately west of Ealing Broadway Station and proposed a retail and residential development , including a 26 storey residential block, in 2008. Ealing Council agreed to the Planning Application but the Government eventually turned it down in December 2009. WEN as part of Save Ealing Centre spoke at a Government Inquiry on the application and you can read Eric’s personal blog of the daily twists and turns of this Inquiry here).

It appears that Glenkerrin is in debt to the tune of 650 Million Euros.

WEN is not surprised at Glenkerrin’s collapse, but we are surprised that it has taken so long for it to take place.

Eric Leach

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Is the age of tall buildings for London at an end?

Chris Gilson reports on the potential slow-down of skyscraper growth in London, as a result of fiscal austerity.

One of West Ealing Neighbours’ major concerns in the last half decade is the potential growth of super-massive skyscrapers and commercial developments in the town’s center – all without increased provision for social services for new residents.   The recession has certainly slowed down a number of these developments, and now Bloomberg reports that for the capital in general:

London property developers are sacrificing height and glitz for better returns as the craze for building iconic skyscrapers comes to an end, said Ken Shuttleworth, the architect of the landmark Gherkin building….

While skyscrapers with nicknames such as the Shard, the Cheesegrater and the Walkie Talkie are joining the 40-story Gherkin as part of the British capital’s skyline, those buildings reflect past rather than present considerations. All of the office towers that are due to open in London by 2014 were conceived before the financial crisis and developers are increasingly adopting cheaper, less ambitious plans.

Does this mean that Ealing is now going against the grain by continuing to try and build large, tall, buildings (like the proposed 21 storey successor to Westel House) and developments?

Read the full article here.

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Yet Another New Hotel and New Residential Tower Block for Central Ealing: Property Developers Continue to Shape Central Ealing

Vice Chair of WEN Eric Leach looks at the approval of a new hotel and residential block in West Ealing by Ealing Council.

The Planning Application for a hotel, a private residential tower block (21 storeys) and a small bock for of 33 Affordable Rent housing units on the old TVU/Westel House site was approved by Ealing Council last night.

As use of this land in this way was neither prescribed by the UDP nor the LDF perhaps we can now conclude that Ealing Council has just thrown in the towel with planning policy and the way is now open for property developers to design the centre of Ealing.

We now have the prospect in the central Ealing area of 569 new hotel rooms (Bond Street, Travel Lodge, Premier Inn, Drayton Court and now Westel House) and 800 new private flats (Dickens Yard, Green Man and Westel House). Let’s hope that the incomers who will occupy these spaces don’t get ill or need a State Primary/Secondary education as they will struggle to find local services to meet their needs.

As some of you may know the Planning Application for a hotel, a private residential tower block (21 storeys) and a small bock for of 33 Affordable Rent housing units on the old TVU/Westel House site was approved by Ealing Council last night.

As use of this land in this way was neither prescribed by the UDP nor the LDF perhaps we can now conclude that Ealing Council has just thrown in the towel with planning policy and the way is now open for property developers to design the centre of Ealing.

We now have the prospect in the central Ealing area of 569 new hotel rooms (Bond Street, Travel Lodge, Premier Inn, Drayton Court and now Westel House) and 800 new private flats (Dickens Yard, Green Man and Westel House). Let’s hope that the incomers who will occupy these spaces don’t get ill or need a State Primary/Secondary education as they will struggle to find local services to meet their needs.

As some of you may know the Planning Application for a hotel, a private residential tower block (21 storeys) and a small bock for of 33 Affordable Rent housing units on the old TVU/Westel House site was approved by Ealing Council last night.

As use of this land in this way was neither prescribed by the UDP nor the LDF perhaps we can now conclude that Ealing Council has just thrown in the towel with planning policy and the way is now open for property developers to design the centre of Ealing.

We now have the prospect in the central Ealing area of 569 new hotel rooms (Bond Street, Travel Lodge, Premier Inn, Drayton Court and now Westel House) and 800 new private flats (Dickens Yard, Green Man and Westel House). Let’s hope that the incomers who will occupy these spaces don’t get ill or need a State Primary/Secondary education as they will struggle to find local services to meet their needs.

As some of you may know the Planning Application for a hotel, a private residential tower block (21 storeys) and a small bock for of 33 Affordable Rent housing units on the old TVU/Westel House site was approved by Ealing Council last night.

 

 

 

As use of this land in this way was neither prescribed by the UDP nor the LDF perhaps we can now conclude that Ealing Council has just thrown in the towel with planning policy and the way is now open for property developers to design the centre of Ealing.

 

 

 

We now have the prospect in the central Ealing area of 569 new hotel rooms (Bond Street, Travel Lodge, Premier Inn, Drayton Court and now Westel House) and 800 new private flats (Dickens Yard, Green Man and Westel House). Let’s hope that the incomers who will occupy these spaces don’t get ill or need a State Primary/Secondary education as they will struggle to find local services to meet their needs.

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Money wasted on meaningless pavement replacements on The Avenue

Eric Leach questions Council ‘regeneration’ on The Avenue in West Ealing.

Way back in February 2010 we reported that the Council planned to spend £280,000 on regenerating The Avenue retail strip. Over a year later workmen are taking up lots of quite serviceable paving stones from the wide pavement on the eastern side of the road and replacing them with new paving stones. This must itself be costing thousands of pounds and there is no obvious regeneration benefit here. At a time when £millions are being cut from Council budgets it seems quite obscene to spend money unnecessarily.

We still await the conversion of the mixed Stop and Shop and Pay and Display kerb side car parking arrangement into ‘free-form’ 30 minutes free parking controlled by car registration numbers. Although budgeted to cost £8,500, the new arrangement is not scheduled to increase the number of cars which will park there. These new parking slots will continue to be dominated by mini-cab car parking – an arrangement that the Ealing Broadway Councillors are quite happy to tolerate even though it works against the best interests of Avenue traders and shoppers.

What with this work underway and the conversion of The Drayton Court pub into a hotel in full swing, car parking on the Avenue is even more of a shambles than usual. When the 27 bed hotel opens in June we are promised 18 hotel car parking spaces – 6 in front of the hotel and 12 in what was part of the garden at the back. However the access road at the back via Gordon Road is terribly narrow and will be just one way.

Eric Leach

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Demolition starts at Green Man Lane Estate

Chair of WEN, David Highton reports on the beginning of the end for the Green Man Lane Estate.

Demolition began yesterday as the 10-year redevelopment of the Green Man Lane Estate  kicked off in earnest. Council leader Julian Bell was joined by representatives from housing association A2Dominion, builders Rydon, architects Conran and GML residents as the bulldozers finally moved on site. Whatever your views, and West Ealing Neighbours’ views are fully documented on our website this development marks a huge change for West Ealing. When completed the development will house some 2,000 people as compared to the curent 800. This ‘densification’  will be repeated in a year or two when the Sherwood Close Estate (aka Dean Gardens Estate) is similarly redeveloped.  Add to these two developments the 100s of new homes at Sinclair House (opposite West Ealing station), the Daniels development, the Waitrose development, the newly completed flats on the old Groveglade indoor market site and many more smaller developments and the changes are having, and will continue to have, a profound impact on West Ealing.

This policy of ‘densification’ lies at the heart of the Council’s plans for the next 15 years as detailed in their Local Development Framework. You can read more about this on our blog by clicking on the LDF category on the right hand navigation and on our website

David Highton

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21 storey tower set to dominate West Ealing centre skyline

Vice Chair of WEN Eric Leach reports on a new development in West Ealing.

Just 12 months after National Government said ‘No’ to a 26 storey residential building overlooking Haven Green, plans have been submitted for a 21 storey residential building which will overlook Walpole Park.

The plan is to demolish the old Westel/TVU mini-Centre Point lookalike building on the corner of Craven Road and the Uxbridge Road on the eastern borders of West Ealing. In its place is planned to build three new buildings – a hotel, a flats for sale block and an Affordable Rents flat block.

Continue reading “21 storey tower set to dominate West Ealing centre skyline”

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WEN public meeting – What future for West Ealing? Monday 22nd November, Dean Hall, 7.30pm

It may sound dull but the Council’s current consultation over the Local Development Framework, which is the basis for planning the future of Ealing from 2011 to 2026, will affect all of us and have a profound impact on the future of West Ealing. For example, the plans show:

  • Shops and businesses along the Uxbridge Road corridor demolished to make way for some 1,245 new homes and 3,500 new residents
  • But the plans do not mention how the infrastructure will be put in place to cope with this increase in population:
  • No plans for new schools
  • No plans for new healthcare facilities
  • No alternative strategies to ‘densifying’ the housing along the Uxbridge Road corridor

Because we feel it is so important that as many residents as possible have the chance to hear about and comment upon  the Council’s plans for West Ealing from 2011-2026, we have organized a public meeting. The meeting will take place at 7:30pm on Monday 22nd November, 2010. It will be held at Dean Hall on Singapore Road.

At this meeting West Ealing Neighbours will provide an overview on how future plans for Ealing will directly affect West Ealing. Specific Council policies to be discussed include proposed developments in West Ealing centre including extensive building of blocks of flats, and 50 or more shop demolitions. The meeting will also discuss what is missing in the plans – including the lack of new educational and healthcare facilities to support the 3,500 new residents in the 1,245 new homes. Attendees will also be shown how to register their objections to the plans.

At this meeting West Ealing Neighbours will provide an overview on how future plans for Ealing will directly affect West Ealing. Specific Council policies to be discussed include proposed developments in West Ealing centre including extensive building of blocks of flats, and 50 or more shop demolitions. The meeting will also discuss what is missing in the plans – including the lack of new educational and healthcare facilities to support the 3,500 new residents in the 1,245 new homes. Attendees will also be shown how to register their objections to the plans.

Please come along and make your views on West Ealing’s future heard