Hope that Council Debate Will End Threat to Historic Asset
Motion proposed to make future Town Hall development community-led
The chamber of Ealing Council
June 8, 2023
Campaigners who have fought to prevent the loss of Victoria Hall as part of the development of the Town Hall are hoping a forthcoming council debate will mark their final victory.
A meeting of the council on Tuesday 13 June is set to discuss the situation regarding the planned development in the centre of Ealing.
In April the council announced that it was no longer intending to proceed with the controversial scheme which would have seen a large residential tower erected, the incorporation of Victoria Hall into a new hotel and the council demolishing Perceval House .
There were over 2,000 objections to the original plan which included a 26-storey tower as well as 477 flats. In addition to a new civic centre, the designs included a new central Ealing library.
It is understood that one of the main reasons for the scrapping of the proposal, which had already been approved by the council, was that changes in government regulations requiring a second staircase to be included in tall buildings, had led the council’s development partner Mastcraft to conclude the scheme was unviable. Increasing labour and materials costs were also a factor in the decision.
However, there remains some concern that the council has gone some way to establishing the principle that buildings, including a large part of the Town Hall as well as Victoria Hall, which are owned by the 1893 Victoria Hall Trust could become part of a privately owned development. The Friends of Victoria Hall ((FoVH) were due to challenge Ealing Council in the High Court over this issue.
At the meeting on Tuesday, 13 June a motion for debate will be moved by the Liberal Democrat opposition which will call for the final cancellation of a 2016 scheme which involved the loss of the Victoria Hall and that any future scheme for the Hall should be community-led, rather than developer-led. In addition, it is demanded that a genuinely independent Victoria Hall Trust, with the majority of members being non-councillors, should be set up to determine the future use of the Victoria Hall.
FoVH chair Roger Green said, “With rumours currently circulating that the Council has parted company with its luxury hotel developer partner Mastcraft, FoVH hopes that this debate will shed some light on this sorry and expensive saga and pave the way for a properly inclusive solution that’s better for the people of our Borough.”
He added, “If the Council’s hotel partner has indeed pulled out, it should waste no time in creating a new, inclusive, community-led future for the Town Hall and the Victoria Hall, the only large indoor venue in Ealing that’s easily accessible from all parts of the Borough.”
The council has admitted to spending over three million pounds on the abortive project since July 2016. The scheme has been in limbo since the FoVH’s legal challenge to the Charity Commission’s decision to rule in favour of Ealing Council’s bid to take control of the property of the Victoria Hall Trust. A three day hearing took place earlier this year but the court has yet to announce a decision.
The Council Meeting takes place at 7pm on Tuesday 13 June. It will be available to attend in person and to view online on the Ealing Council YouTube channel.
The agenda and other details of the Council Meeting can be downloaded here.
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