Ealing Notes

By deNise colliver, roger greeN, eric leach aNd louise siNNock

Libraries

All but one of the Ealing Public and Community Managed Libraries (CMLs) remain closed until 1 September 2020. Ealing Central Public Library (ECL) re-opened on 17 August 2020, in the sense that you can enter it. However you can’t browse the books, or use the computers. The Government’s Covid-19 response guidance allowed library reopening nationally as from 4 July 2020.

ECL might only stay open for a couple of years as the Council wants it replaced by a new Public Library on the Perceval House site. Vistry and the Council plan to demolish Perceval House and build some 510 housing units on the site along with a new ECL. Wood End Public Library in Greenford is scheduled for demolition if Planning Permission for the Council’s planned 11 ‘genuinely affordable/ sustainable’ housing units on the site is granted. A new ‘Community Library’ is

Manor Road Tower

Over 2,400 formal objections to the Manor Road tower block have been submitted to Ealing Council. This is almost certainly a record number. ‘Stop The Towers’ (STT) pulled out all the stops to ensure that the local community were aware of the new proposals. This is in spite of the fact that there was no community consultation for the design of the new 20 storey block with a roof garden on the 14th floor of the shoulder building. Objections expressed concern about these tower blocks being built on inappropriately small sites adjacent to Edwardian and Victorian two storey homes. Site specific guidance and impact on the community have also been ignored.

STT planning experts identified many material breaches of planning policy and used these to shape submissions to the Planning Application 202231FUL. A well known QC helped frame promised on the site but it’s not clear how big it will be or who will run it. Five Community Managed Libraries (CMLs) are still just in embryonic form thanks largely to Covid-19:

Hanwell: Ealing Law Centre - the CML operator – has still not moved into the first floor of the library building. Up to five volunteers will be entering the library as from 1 September 2020. Online services are up and running. Partial opening is likely during September 2020. New volunteers should contact:

mbauer@hanwellcommunitylibrary. org.uk

Northfields: The CML operator – Northfields Community Library – is functioning in digital form. More at: northfieldscommunitylibrary.org.uk

Perivale: Contact the CML operator Perivale Community Hive for information perivalehive@yahoo.com Pitshanger: Local stakeholders are discussing a new Lease with Ealing Council

West Ealing: Ealing Community and Voluntary Service (ECVS) – the CML operator – have still to re-locate to the back office of West Ealing Library. This is because Ealing Council has still not vacated the property. A volunteer Library Manager has been hired and ECVS is confident of some limited opening by the end of September 2020. More at: ealingcvs.org.uk

Incredibly none of the CML contractors has been able to obtain a signed lease from Ealing Council.

haNwell liBrary

the legal arguments as to why Ealing Council Planning Committee would be mad to approve this application. With a high percentage of the local population bothering to express their views, together with the legal arguments, can the Council ignore such a groundswell of opinion from their electorate?

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs)

Up to 10 LTNS will have been installed across Ealing by the end of September 2020. Temporary road blocks (comprised of bollards and planters) are being set up. The aim is to make our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. In many LTNs local vehicle traffic has been diverted onto main roads. This is increasing journey lengths and times and increasing pollution on main roads. There is much opposition. On September 12th an estimated (or unprecedented) 2,500 people marched from Northfields to Ealing Town Hall in protest against LTN introduction. More on this next time.

Acton Old Library

On 19 March 2014 the Old Acton Public Library on Acton High Street closed its doors for good. In 2015 Ealing Council agreed with Curzon Corinthian Group to create a cinema in the splendid 1900 Grade II listed building. But it all came to nothing. Acton Arts Project (AAP) Community Interest Company (CIC) was established in May 2018 with a view to creating and running a cinema-based community hub in the building. On 15 October 2019, after lots of twists and turns, Ealing Council Cabinet agreed to rent the building to the AAP CIC. By December 2019 £115,000 had been pledged by the local community to support AAP. An AAP Planning Application was published in May 2020 (202045FUL) and was approved in September 2020. AAP expects its new cinema in Acton Old Library to open (Covid-19 willing) in Summer 2021. More at www.actonartsproject.com

Ealing Notes continueD

Durston House

On 15 January 2020 Ealing Council approved a Planning Application for Durston House School to expand onto Castlebar Playing Field in Carlton Road in central Ealing.

On 15 July 2020 London Mayor Kahn reversed the Council’s decision. The refusal was largely on the grounds of ‘unacceptable loss of protected open space’ and ‘loss of playing field’. It was noted that the applicant did not demonstrate that the sports facilities to be lost would be surplus to requirements or re-provide the playing field and tennis courts elsewhere.

Gurnell

The Gurnell demolition/construction proposal (201695FUL) has been met with significant opposition across Ealing with over 1,600 formal objections and a petition with 4,100 signatures. After a substantial amount of emails were sent by residents to Ealing’s three MPs, James Murray MP for Ealing North has formally objected to the proposal. He has asked the Council to reject it on the basis of development on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) and harm to openness, density being too high given the accessibility of the local public transport network, and the affordable housing does not include enough family homes.

This proposal for 6 tower blocks up to 17 storeys high on MOL, breaches

the Charity’s property, if the Halls were disposed of, could be put to more suitable and effective use for the purposes of the Charity. In the view of the Friends of Victoria Hall the Council Officers’ directions to the GPC did not take seriously enough the Charity Commission strictures and it is hard to see how the Commission can accept Ealing’s response.

savevictoriahall.weebly.com national, London and local planning policies. The Mayor of London is currently reviewing the proposal. The Mayor has the power to reject the proposal, as he has done with other proposals. The Save Gurnell campaign is asking everyone who objects to the plans to email the Mayor with their feelings. More details on how to do that can be found by visiting: www.savegurnell.org.uk.

See the ‘How to Object’ page.

It’s not too late to object to the Gurnell proposal – objections can be submitted up until mid-September 2020. Join the Save Gurnell emailing list to fight against the overdevelopment.

Victoria Hall

In April 2020 the Charity Commission ruled that Ealing Council’s 2016 deal to sell the Town Hall to a hotel developer could not proceed unless the Council substantially revised its proposals to take control of the charity which owns Victoria and Princes Halls. The Council now looks set to ignore most of the Commission recommendations for changes to the rules governing the Trust.

The Halls were built next to Ealing Town Hall in 1882 with money raised from the public and are owned by a charitable Trust set up in 1893 to provide a venue for community events. Unfortunately, the Council overlooked this prior to its signing its deal with hotel company Mastcraft in 2016.

On 29 June and on 30 July 2020 Ealing Council’s General Purposes Committee (GPC) met in its guise as Trustees of the Charity to discuss Council Officers’ recommendations on how they should proceed. In a series of votes they dismissed almost all of the Commission requests for them to re-consider how

178 Church Road, Hanwell

This charming 1922 Arts & Crafts house in a Conservation Area is in danger of being demolished and replaced by six flats and two houses.

163 formal objections have been submitted to Ealing Council. The developer has submitted revised plans (201141FUL) and people are being encouraged to object once more: https://pam.ealing.gov.uk/ online-applications

For details on grounds for objection contact

jeannetteanngrose@yahoo.co.uk