Council Accused of Reneging on Dean Gardens Pledges

Promised 'rain garden' currently a muddy pond of polluted water

Pigeons make use of the site where the rain garden was meant to go

November 13, 2023

Residents living near Dean Gardens in West Ealing are increasingly frustrated about the condition of their local park.

Just a few months ago Ealing Council was heralding new investment that it said would deliver a new rain garden by this October, but the designated space currently is a muddy pool occupied only by pigeons.

Before the pandemic, the council had commissioned consultants New Practice in conjunction with Kinnear Landscape Architects to redesign the park with the ambitious scheme part funded by TfL.

The small neighbourhood park has had a chequered history over the years and been witness to violent incidents and anti-social behaviour and was previously dubbed 'stabby park' by locals. Efforts have been made to improve the environment of the park by holding family friendly community events including the Soundbite music Festival and the project was hoped by many to be transformative.

A visualisation of the rain garden plan released earlier this year by the council

A ‘Live West Ealing Team’, was formed to make the park safer and more attractive and to introduce a community gardening area along its western edge. This required the removal of over 30 established trees and most of the existing flowering shrubs.

Designs drawn up after a public consultation were meant to be completed by spring 2021 but the pandemic led to them being abandoned. Later that year the council put forward new proposals for the park which lacked the funding of the previous scheme.

This meant that previous plans to remove the railings and install new lighting had to be ditched due to the expense but wooden tubs were installed to support the new community garden.

The earlier now abandoned design for Dean Gardens

Earlier this year the council dug up the park as part of a project partly funded by Thames Water to reduce the risk of flooding on Uxbridge Road which saw large rain containers installed underground on the western edge of the park. These used a natural stone wool material instead of the usual plastic, to create a sustainable drainage system (SuDS), which diverts storm water from the high street.

Cllr Deirdre Costigan visited the park this July while the work was taking place and announced that the council intended to regenerate the area with a new wildlife-friendly flowering meadow aimed at attracting butterflies, bees, birds and amphibians described as a rain garden before the end of October 2023. The council published a visualisation of how the area might look.

New drainage systems being installed under the park this July

Local resident Dave Randles took photos in the park this week. He said, “The much-celebrated rain garden is in fact a ditch containing stagnant, polluted water used by a flock of resident pigeons and the Community Garden project contains little more than a few questionable weeds.

“Dean Gardens is a precious, green space in West Ealing and is well used by many thousands of local people weekly including families, commuters, cyclists and the socially disadvantaged. It is a tremendous asset to those who have no green space to call their own and forms a vital focal point for our town centre. Sadly, the beautiful roses of 2016 have now been replaced by weeds and the area has been allowed to degenerate into a pigeon and rodent-infested health hazard.”

A spokesperson for Ealing Council said, " The creation of an eco meadow in Dean Gardens is running slightly behind schedule due to the late Autumn, which affected our planting schedule.

"The flowering meadow seeding is now complete and seeds are already germinating. The council is working with Cultivate London and local community volunteers with weekly drop in gardening sessions to plant pond plants and nectar rich plants.

"Once planting is complete the team will position logs and boulders around the seasonal pools and install a new information sign about SuDs and Rain Gardens. This should all be completed by the New Year.

"The SuDs system is working well but there was one issue with a small section of footpath subsiding. Our contractor is already looking at the best way to fix this."