Category: Planning / regeneration

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North Acton – beyond all recognition

One Portal Way, North Acton

I worked at Gypsy Corner in North Acton for over 20 years from 1975. Now, I barely recognise any part of it. WEN received this email from the Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum about yet another planned major development for this already highly developed area close to North Acton tube station.

‘A planning application for a development of seven buildings on site at North Acton has been submitted by Imperial College. The application will be decided by the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation. OPDC has decided on this occasion not to ‘delegate’ the application to Ealing Council. Ealing’s Planning Committee has made the previous decisions on schemes at North Acton, on behalf of OPDC.

If this application is approved and these buildings are constructed, the CGI image below is what the increasingly notorious ‘North Acton Cluster’ will look like. The 55 storey tower at One West Point will be joined by a 56 storey tower in the first phase of Imperial’s development. Outline planning permission is being sought for two further residential towers of ‘up to 50 storeys’.

Image from Pilbrow and Partners Design and Access Statement
 

Planning permission is not a foregone conclusion. The OPDC Draft Local Plan has not yet been adopted. The Planning Inspector is looking at the implications of new policies on building heights, introduced last year in the 2021 London Plan.

Your objection can make a difference. The Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum is working with several organisations in Ealing, Hammersmith and North Kensington to resist this proposed development. These are some of the reasons why you may wish to send in an objection to the OPDC.

The ‘North Acton cluster’ is fast becoming London’s latest urban renewal disaster – traffic-ridden, windswept, sunless and with empty ground floor shop units and poor public spaces

This is massive overdevelopment of the site.  North Acton station cannot cope with this number of new residents.

Who will provide the schools, GP surgeries and other amenities that North Acton has long been promised?

Where does OPDC’s Draft Local Plan say that local residents should expect three more towers of 50 storeys at North Acton?

We had understood that the modified London Plan Policy D9 protects us from further tall buildings of this scale – unless and until a local plan is clear on suitable locations and appropriate building heights.  No such local plan yet exists.

Residential towers are now known to use far more embedded carbon in their construction, and more energy in their daily use, than lower rise housing.  These are proposals from a past era.  We and our children deserve better in the 2020s.

Views and skylines across West London continue to be destroyed by developments which will prove to be of the wrong kind in the wrong place.  Please do not repeat the errors of Vauxhall/Nine Elms/Battersea. 

It is best if you can put some of these points in your own words and/or add others most relevant to where you live.  ‘Cut and paste’ objections tend to be largely ignored by planning committees.

The point about London Plan policy D9 is important. This is one of our best chances of seeing the application refused.

You can find more information on the application on the OPDC website at this link.  The stated closing date for comments is 8th January.  We have asked for a 3-4 week extension given the scale of the proposals and the fact that the consultation period has been over the Xmas and New Year period.

It is possible to submit a response online via the OPDC’s cumbersome system.  Easier to send an email to planningapplications@opdc.london.gov.uk.  Or by post to Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation at c/o Brent Civic Centre, 32 Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ.

The OPDC rules for commenting on planning applications are below:

You must include your full name and address and preferably an e-mail address, if you have one. We are unable to accept anonymous comments so if you do not provide your full name and address, your comments will not be considered.

Please be aware we cannot treat your comments as confidential and they will be displayed on our Planning Register, so they can be seen by other people, but your personal details will be removed. We are not able to acknowledge receipt of your comments.

By law, planning authorities have to take account of representations up until the point when a decision is made. But if you can submit in the next few days, so much the better.

For more information about the work of the Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum, visit our website at www.oldoakneighbourhoodforum.org.  If not already a member you are welcome to join by emailing oonforum@gmail.com. 

Best wishes and thanks for your help’ 

Henry Peterson–

on behalf of the Old Oak Neighbourhood Forum

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Developer wins appeal to build 20-storey tower next to West Ealing station

Sadly, the decision by The Planning Inspectorate to give the go-ahead for this tower is no great surprise. The documentation with this decision is long and detailed. These are some of the key points about the Inspector’s decison:

‘The Council’s acceptance that it cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites.’ The Council appears not to have proper records to prove it does not need this site to meet its housing targets.

The area around the site is largely non-residential.

There are already ‘buildings of significant size in the immediate area’ – Waitrose, Luminoscity, Sinclair House, Dominion House and the new station.

The proposed site itself is single -storey buildings of poor quality and under-used.

The starting point to assess the proposed tall building is ‘whether the site is worthy of the gesture. A spine of taller development is evolving along the path of the railway.’ This proposal would be seen as another part of that spine. So the site is worthy of the gesture.

The proposed building (not as high as that originally proposed) would not appear as an alien insertion into the townscape. It would be an indicator of the transition from buildings of lower size and height to the more intensive uses and buildings of greater height around the node or hub formed by the meeting of the roads, their crossing of the railway and the station.

The design, as long as the materials are of high quality, will be an exemplary piece of design that will make a positive contribution to the area.

The proposed building is well outside the conservation area and we should not equate visibility and harm.

The Council is delivering at best 40% of its objectively assessed need for affordable housing. The provision of these 144 units would be all be affordable homes.

There is no unacceptable impact on the living conditions of existing residents through loss of sunlight, loss of daylight, visual impact, overshadowing, overlooking and loss of privacy.

No Blue Badge parking will not be a deterrent given it is next to the step-free access station and the developer will give £10,000 to the Council to provide Blue Badge parking nearby.

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More development coming on West Ealing high street

Rumours about Catalyst Housing Group selling its properties on the high street either side of St James Avenue have proved accurate. Some of these buildings have been empty for a while so a sale has seemed the obvious next step. The buildings which include the Welshore Hub, the addiction treatment agency RISE, the empty corner shops on either side of St James Avenue along with St James House have all been sold to Luxgrove Capital Partners for redevelopment.

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Petition to make Warren Farm a Local Nature Reserve presented to London Assembly

10,000 signatures for Ealing nature reserve presented to London Assembly

21 September 2021

Press release from the campaigners:

Campaigners asking for Local Nature Reserve (LNR) status for a series of urban meadows in Ealing, West London presented their petition to London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon today. The Warren Farm Nature Reserve petition was launched in January 2021 and now has 10,700 signatures. 

The plan to designate Warren Farm and its surrounding meadows by the River Brent as a statutory LNR has been put forward by the Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS), a charity which campaigned successfully to create the Brent River Park (BRP) in the 1970s. Since Ealing Council stopped using Warren Farm as a sports facility, the meadows have rewilded and now form a unique urban grassland. Species of birds, mammals, plants, reptiles, amphibians and insects which are rare in London have been recorded thriving on the land. This proposal would preserve the meadows for future generations and ensure the protection of its rare and endangered species such as the Skylark, a red-listed bird facing UK extinction. 

The petition was presented by BRCS Trustee Katie Boyles, young conservationist and wildlife writer Kabir Kaul and CPRE London’s Head of Green Space Campaigns, Alice Roberts. Campaigners are asking the Mayor and the London Assembly to support the granting of LNR status to Warren Farm, as part of the CPRE’s Ten New Parks for London campaign. Not wishing to use paper unnecessarily, the campaigners presented the petition on a memory stick, held in the beak of a model barn owl. The barn owl is one of the endangered species found on Warren Farm and the Barn Owl Trust is supporting the nature reserve campaign.

Other supporters of the campaign include prominent environmental campaigners, such as Lord Randall of Uxbridge, forensic botanist Mark A Spencer, West London Ramblers, Ealing Wildlife Group and London National Park City.

Alice Roberts stressed the importance of areas like Warren Farm for London’s green space and biodiversity:

“London has just half the green space it needs for a population its size. Yet there are many green spaces in the capital which, if properly managed, could be used as public amenities while, at the same time, increasing London’s biodiversity. One such is Warren Farm, a large area of abandoned former playing fields and land in Ealing. It was at risk of being given away but now, in cooperation with the local charity the Brent River & Canal Society, CPRE London is asking for the Mayor’s support to give this unique rewilded space Local Nature Reserve status. We have named Warren Farm as one of our Ten New Parks for London and hope that the Mayor will help us to ensure it is preserved for future generations.”

BRCS Trustee and campaign organiser Katie Boyles commented:

“We are absolutely delighted to have achieved over 10,600 signatures on our petition. Lockdown has opened people’s eyes to the importance of local nature and it is clear from the huge level of support we are receiving that residents want to see green spaces like Warren Farm protected.

“We simply cannot afford to lose this vast wildflower meadow habitat of which there are less than 2% remaining in the UK. The biodiversity loss would be catastrophic for London. We have red-listed birds, insects and plant species recorded here that are facing UK extinction. We are in conversation with Ealing Council Leader, Peter Mason, and now we are asking for support from the Mayor and Assembly to make this happen. We want Warren Farm Nature Reserve to set a precedent for what can be achieved.”

Kabir Kaul, the young conservationist and wildlife writer who came up with the idea for the campaign, said:

“It has been wonderful to be part of this campaign and I have learned so much about this precious green space in the heart of Ealing as a result. This magnificent grassland habitat is home to several rare and red-listed species, including Skylarks: it brings me, and many others, great joy to hear their song in the borough. The meadow also benefits many other bird species, including Mistle Thrushes, Red Kites, Rooks, Buzzards, and in September, a migratory Wryneck visited. If Warren Farm and the surrounding Brent River Park Meadows receive the designation of a Local Nature Reserve, it will ensure that the site’s important biodiversity can be protected, and encourage more residents to enjoy it for years to come.”

Caroline Pidgeon will pass the petition to the Mayor and table a written question calling for his support at the October meeting.

www.WarrenFarmNatureReserve.co.uk

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Most LTNs set to be scrapped

Following the results of a consultation about the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods which showed strong opposition to most LTNs, a report recommends that most are scrapped.

LTN21 for the south West Ealing area was scrapped a while back when Swyncombe Avenue was closed for road works. Now LTN20 which covers the area in West Ealing north of the Uxbridge Road to the railway line is one of the seven LTNs set to be scrapped.

The final decision will be made by the Council’s cabinet on the 27th September. The proposed scrapping is strongly opposed by Better Ealing Streets.

The full story is available on the Ealing Today website.

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Manor Road tower and Gurnell plans update

Ealing Matters’ latest newsletter has an useful update on the developer’s appeal against the Council’s decision to refuse their application for a tall tower in Manor Road next to West Ealing station.

Planning application for 51-56 Manor Road and 53-55 Drayton Green Road (corner site next to West Ealing Station (202231FUL)

The appeal against Planning Committee’s decision to reject this application for a 20-storey tower block took place online during the last two weeks of July. The appellant employed one of the country’s most respected planning barristers Christopher Katkowski QC, to argue their case. Stop the Towers (STT), whose campaign helped to secure 2,400 public objections including one from local MP James Murray, fought hard to uphold the decision. By contrast, the Council failed to field a single officer, relying instead on a consultant who had never previously worked on the scheme to make its case.

Mr Katkowski seized on the Council’s failure to publish any information about Ealing’s house-building programme for the last six years (the AMRs referred to earlier) to argue in his summing-up that the decision should be tilted in favour of his client, and used it further to lodge a claim for costs against the Council. If successful, not only will it be we as taxpayers who will have to pay for the borough’s negligence in this case, but it will subvert our elected representatives’ ability to reject officer recommendations for other schemes for which there are otherwise perfectly reasonable planning grounds to do so.

Planning application for Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) at Gurnell (201695FUL)

After being rejected by Ealing’s Planning Committee on 17 March by 10 votes to one with two abstentions, this application was submitted to the London Mayor for a final decision. Sadiq Khan chose not to intervene, so this particular scheme is now dead. Since then Save Gurnell has been campaigning for the leisure centre to re-open. Cllr Mason appeared alongside campaigners on BBC London’s Drivetime programme on 17 August to argue that it would cost £18 million to bring the complex up to standard. We are aware that a number of refurbishment options have been considered, but that only the most expensive one has been shared with the public. Are we being softened up for a new planning application?

With thanks to Eric Leach for his contribution to this latest issue. Contributions that you think would be of interest to Ealing Matters member groups are welcome.

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Ealing falls well short in building affordable homes

Thanks to the Ealing Today website for running this story. A new report by the Green Party on housing in London claims that London boroughs are falling well short in building affordable homes.  According to their figures using the London Plan target of 40% affordable housing for new development, the borough of Ealing is 1,871 homes short of this target. Ealing falls even further behind if the Strategic Housing Market Assessment figures are used – falling short by 4,539 homes.

This is a timely report for West Ealing given the plans for the Woolworth’s site which propose 35% affordable homes.  This is lower than the London Plan target of 40% and lower still against Ealing’s Housing and Homeless Strategy target of 50%. The application for the Woolworth’s site has yet to go before the planning committee for a decision.

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The development of West Ealing continues with 19 flats proposed on high street site

A planning application has been submitted for a part five-storey and part six-storey building with 17 one-bedroom flats, one two-bedroom and one studio flat on the site once occupied by the Community Shop and offices (Pure in the above illustration).  The application number is 183569FUL  and more information is available on the Council’s website.

At some point we expect to see an application come forward to redevelop Chignell Place.  The owners have taken possession of most of the shops and cafes in this once notorious cul-de-sac.  This will almost complete the redevelopment of this run from Chignell Place to the Diamond Hotel. Then development across the road above the empty site where the Polish supermarket used to be is likely soon.

 

 

 

 

 

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New St John’s Primary School officially opens

It almost didn’t happen. The original plans for the redevelopment of the Green Man Lane Estate did not include a new school for St John’s even though the school was built as part of the original estate in the 1970s which was deemed no longer fit for purpose. At the time, WEN commented on this and proposed that this was the ideal opportunity to build a new school as there was already great pressure on primary school places.

Luckily, good sense won the day and the plans were amended to include a new school and to build houses along Felix Road on the original site of the school.

The new school which officially opens today (19th June) can take over 600 pupils along with some 100 in its new nursery. All in all, a welcome addition to the primary schools in West Ealing.