Decision To Proceed With Third Perceval House Vote Blasted |
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Rupa Huq MP says should not happen during election period
There has been widespread condemnation of Ealing Council’s decision to proceed with a third vote on the controversial Perceval House planning application. Critics, including Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq, say that such a critical decision should not be made during an election period. The London Assembly is currently in ‘purdah’ due to the forthcoming elections which will decide who is to be the Mayor of London. It is normal practice for key decisions relating to London Assembly matters not to be made during this period. The council have confirmed that there will be another virtual meeting of the borough planning committee on Wednesday 31 March. The first meeting to consider the project voted to defer the decision due to the lack of family housing in the plan. The second meeting was ruled invalid after it emerged that technical difficulties meant that the public were unable to view part of the discussion and the vote. Rupa Huq has previously questioned the “indecent haste” and “completely unprecedented rush”’ to approve the redevelopment, which would see 7 blocks comprising 477 mostly-private units replace the council’s current home of Perceval House on Uxbridge Road. She said, “Moving forward with yet another planning meeting, the third in almost as many weeks, during an election campaign is illogical and smacks of an attempt to ram through a controversial proposal with limited scrutiny. The process needs to be far more transparent than it currently is. “I have received previous correspondence from council officers who have suggested it would not be possible to hold another meeting after Monday 22 March. As soon as rumours circulated I pleaded with council bureaucrats that the vote must be pushed back after the election season when with both occupants of City Hall and Ealing Broadway council ward both to be decided - at least one set to undergo change. The proposal is huge in scale – 477 households and does not deliver the genuinely affordable housing that working families in Ealing are in desperate need of.” She has published a video opposing the scheme in which developers Vistry, who are in partnership with the council, are described as greedy. Will French, chair of Save Ealing’s Centre, slammed the ‘completely unprecedented rush’ and commented that the move looked “pretty desperate”. The group Stop the Towers have also been vocal and voiced fear at the creation of a socially cleansed “skyscraper ghetto.” Ealing Civic Society has also spoken out against the redevelopment proposals. A spokesperson for the organisation said, “Community groups (of which we are one) are now considering what further steps to take to ensure this decision is first reviewed by the GLA and then, hopefully, called in for determination by the Secretary of State. “Looking beyond the decision of the committee on the application, the way in which this application has been handled throughout has been widely criticised, starting with the form of public consultation and lack of response to feedback, through to the Council’s handling of the application and a number of aspects of the conduct of the planning committees.” The council have said measures have been taken to avoid the technical difficulties that plagued the earlier meeting prompting Rupa Huq to say, “The scenes at the 10th March committee meeting were farcical. Where’s Jackie Weaver when you need her?” Council officers have told the MP that it is allowable to hold the meeting on 31 March in the purdah period because it is not deemed to be a political issue. Ealing Council has been asked for comment.
March 25, 2021
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