CCA questions & council answers

Replies to questions from the CCA sent by Carol Sam, manager of the Economic Regeneration department of Ealing Council: November 2016

1 What about the Old Library building? Why has no redevelopment happened and have Curzon Cinemas withdrawn or lost interest? Can the council apply pressure to speed development, if Curzon are still going ahead?

See council ‘Regeneration update’.

2 What shops have been confirmed for The Oaks?

See council ‘Regeneration update’.

3 All or some of Acton has been redesignated from ‘suburban’ to ‘urban’. How did this happen and what significance does this have in terms of what can now be built in Acton?

Planning Policy colleagues confirmed that planning officers refer to The London Plan and Ealing’s Development Management Plan when determining planning applications:

  • The London Plan Policy ‘Sustainable residential quality (SRQ) density matrix’ table (under Policy 3.4 Optimising Housing Potential) sets out the appropriate number of habitable rooms and dwellings per hectare for each setting (Suburban, Urban and Central)
  • Ealing’s Development Management Plan (adopted on 10th Dec 2013 and still stands) ‘Policy 3.4 Ealing Local Variation – Optimising Housing Potential’ states that ‘Appropriate density ranges in Ealing will normally be; Central in Ealing Metropolitan Town Centre, Urban in Acton, Greenford, Hanwell and Southall Town Centres and Suburban in the rest of the Borough.’

Planning Officers are able to exercise a level of discretion when determining applications against these policies though, this depends on the nature of the proposed development and its surroundings. It could be that just outside of the Acton Town Centre boundary, where there may already be existing high density buildings (e.g. South Acton Estate), a higher setting may be deemed appropriate. Similarly, on residential streets, within the town centre boundary, a lower setting/density development (e.g. Suburban level) may be deemed more appropriate.

In direct response to the question, there has not been a redesignation of policy – Acton Town Centre was designated as an ‘Urban’ area through the adoption of the Ealing Development Management Plan in 2013 and there have not been any changes to this since.

4 What's happening with Friary Park?

The council has not had any recent discussions with the developer. However, on last contact they did indicate they will be booking a pre-application discussion meeting with planners in the New Year.

5 Will the Council consider giving Acton Community Forum and ARTification the £8000 they need to install utilities in the space given them in Lyra Court in North Acton? We're finding it difficult to understand why they have not been given the relative small amount to make this space usable.

From Carol Sam: ‘The Council providing the revenue funds for Lyra Court – colleagues from the OPDC and a number of partners including Ealing have submitted a funding application for the Great Places Scheme to the Heritage Lottery – we have included a cost to help with some of the refurb of LyraCourt. Rachael Pepper from ARTification is involved in the bid and the planning for delivery. We are very hopeful that the bid will be successful in which case we will have secured funds for Lyra Court. I also want to identify future S106 funds that could be used for Lyra Court. My colleague Callum Murdoch will be taking forward that piece of work.’

6 Would the Council tell us what Section 106 agreements have been established for the buildings in North Acton and the sums involved?*

Attached are the S106 schedules as requested.

Dec 2016 Cabinet S106 Appendix V3 – sets out all the ‘triggered’ funds, which are those which we are in receipt of funds and/or development has started on site.

Park Royal S106s for OPDC Dec 16 – includes all those other agreements which are in the pipeline but not yet ‘triggered’. Mark Isles, S106 Monitoring Officer, has said we are not sure when we may be likely to be in receipt of funds for all of these, however he does know that for 1 Portal Way we are not likely to receive funding for a number of years.