Anger and Dismay Over Manor Road Tower Decision

Planning inspector overrules council's rejection of the application


Visualisation of Manor Road scheme from the developer

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Local campaigners have reacted with anger and dismay to the news that the developer of a 20 storey tower block in Ealing has overturned a decision to withhold planning permission.

The building on Manor Road next to the train station was originally rejected by Ealing Council’s planning committee but The Planning Inspectorate accepted the developer’s appeal this Friday (29 October).

The inspector determined that, given the presence of other large buildings in the ‘immediate area’, such as Luminoscity, Sinclair House, Dominion House and the new station, the tower would not be out of place. Also, as a spine of tall buildings was developing along the path of the railway, the site was ‘worthy of a gesture’.

The inspector stated, “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.”

Members of the council’s planning committee had voted down the plan to build what the developer is calling ‘55 West’ by six votes to five.

The plan involves building 144 flats classed as affordable next to West Ealing’s Crossrail station, on Manor Road and Drayton Green Road, targeting key worker-type households on “modest incomes” with no social rent provision. The flats are to be made up of 50 at London living rent, and 94 shared ownership flats in the plan submitted by developer Southern Grove West Ealing Limited and housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley

Stop the Towers (STT), which has campaigned against this and other tall buildings planned in the borough, said it was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the decision which was made despite objections being logged by over 3,000 people.

The group says it has not yet had a chance to fully analyse the inspector’s comments but added that it ‘seems clear’ that the council’s failure to publish housing figures, which it is legally obliged to do but failed to do, was a major factor as was an alleged lack of any borough policy on tall buildings.

STT Co-Chairs Denise Colliver and Justine Sullivan said, “We’d go as far as to call the council negligent for failing to keep or produce [to the enquiry] any housing delivery projections. The previous council leadership continually failed to produce the figure the inspector needed to allow him room to reject this development. The councillors in charge failed to do so, therefore crippling STTs chance of succeeding at the appeal. This is the type of mismanagement the Local Government Ombudsman has already highlighted. Ealing residents deserve better from their local politicians. Approval of the Manor Road Tower opens the floodgates for more development of a disproportionate size and scale across Central Ealing, West Ealing and the wider area.. And it’s this council which is firmly to blame for the desecration of our borough”.

Speaking after the announcement, Dr Gerald Power, Chair of local residents’ association DCA said, “The failure to defend this appeal lies firmly with a weak and incompetent council that has spent the last ten years cosying up to developers like the people behind the Manor Road Tower. The Council talked endlessly about hitting housing targets but didn’t even think to record how many new flats it was approving or are actually being built in the borough. It beggars belief that such mismanagement can happen. Worse is that this scheme isn’t true social housing. The planning inspector admitted that they would not be affordable to Ealing residents when he granted the appeal so the only winners are the developers: this is not housing that’s affordable to Ealing’s most needy residents.”

James Murray, MP for Ealing North, said, “Like so many local residents, I was immensely disappointed and exasperated when I read the planning inspector’s decision to allow the developer’s appeal. Thousands of local people were opposed to this development, and many spent a huge amount of time and effort making the case against this tower. I am deeply frustrated that, despite the fact we won the argument with the local planning committee and the GLA to refuse the original planning application, the refusal has now been overturned by a single national planning inspector.”

Cllr Gregory Stafford, Conservative Opposition Leader, said, "Nearly 3,000 residents who signed a petition against this development will rightfully be disappointed to know that due to Ealing Labour's incompetence, the Planning Inspector had no choice but to side with the developer. "

Cllr Shital Manro, cabinet member for good growth at Ealing Council, said,“We’re disappointed that the planning inspector has decided to rule in favour of the developer and overruled the Council planning committee’s decision to refuse planning permission.

“We stand by the decision the committee reached, that the proposed tall building is not appropriate or suitable in this location and the development did not provide any London Affordable Rent housing.

“The Council has recently published the interim Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) which sets out the delivery of housing numbers including affordable housing in the borough and the new Local Plan that is being prepared will identify sites for provision of housing including affordable housing. There is an acute need for affordable housing in Ealing.

“The Council will soon be issuing our interim policy position statement on tall buildings in the borough to provide clear direction. This will be followed by the launch of consultation on the Local Plan which will give residents the opportunity to tell us what they want to see happen in their communities and how we can shape the future of Ealing’s seven towns together.”

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November 2, 2021

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