Council Leader Hails 'Excellent News' of Warren Farm Campaign Defeat

Five year battle over leasing public land to QPR is over

The battle to save Warren Farm appears to have been finally lost. The Supreme Court of the UK has ruled against the appeal being made by the Save Warren Farm (SWF) group to prevent public land being leased by Ealing Council to QPR for use as a multi-million pound training facility.

The decision was welcomed by Council leader Julian Bell as 'excellent news. The Council claim the football club will invest millions of pounds into community sports facilities and a sports development programme.

SWF have been arguing for the last five years that the plan to lease 61 acres of publicly-owned community sports fields between Hanwell and Southall for 200 years at no rent to a privately owned company is effectively 'giving away' public land.  They also claim QPR will make around £4 million from the scheme. It is believed that the appeal to the Supreme Court was the last legal recourse for the campaign.

They had the support of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE). Alice Roberts from CPRE said, ''This is London’s open green space and Ealing Council should not be enabling this large development, so damaging to the landscape. Leasing the land rent-free to a private company for 200 years is astonishing.

”The alternative vision is to build a modest new community pavilion to service all the pitches for schools and sporting clubs, and keep the entire site for community use, thus protecting London’s green space.  This is feasible, but we have to stop the Council from giving away public land to private owners first.''

Since 2013 there have been a number of High Court challenges over the deal but this Wednesday (31 October) Ealing Council Leader, Julian Bell took to social media and tweeted the news that the latest appeal had been refused.

Excellent news from the #UK #SupremeCourt today as it rules against a final appeal by #Hanwell Community Forum. @EalingCouncil, @QPR & @QPRtrust can finally get on with providing a multimillion £ community sports facility at no cost to council tax payers! #CommonSensePrevails pic.twitter.com/fwEbYJuHbR

— Julian Bell (@juliangbell) October 31, 2018

Queens Park Rangers recently announced the appointment of real estate investor and developer Jamie Reuben to the board which opponents claim could prove to be useful as the club develops the Warren Farm plans.

Liberal Democrat Councillor, Jon Ball, said: '' lt’s deeply disappointing that the supreme court has allowed Ealing Council to get away with robbing the public of this land for private gain. The public will lose the use of the sports fields. QPR will make millions out of this scheme. The Ealing taxpayer will get no benefit.''

QPR CEO Lee Hoos said: "We're delighted that all legal avenues to frustrate this process have now been exhausted.

"A new training ground, which brings together the first team and the academy, is an important part of a strategic long-term plan for the club.

"The delays have been very frustrating. Not only have they delayed us securing a new training ground for the club but they have delayed the huge community benefit to residents from improved sports facilities and the programmes that QPR in the Community Trust will run at Warren Farm.

"We look forward to engaging with Ealing residents, sports clubs and the council about those facilities and programmes as construction gets under way."

We await comments from SWF, and Ealing Council.

November 1, 2018