Ealing Town Hall has not yet been sold. A deal is in place for it to be turned into a boutique hotel but there is currently an appeal to the Charity Ombudsman since parts of the building (notably the Victoria Hall) are held under a charitable trust for the benefit of the people of Ealing and are not in the council’s gift to dispose of. A hearing is scheduled for later this year and the council is spending taxpayers money defending its decision, having utterly failed to address the issue at any point before signing a deal with the developers.If the appeal succeeds then the hotel won’t go ahead as the Victoria Hall is an integral part of the plan. However the developers, Mastcraft, won’t leave empty handed with the council giving them an indemnity if £350,000 (again, our money) if the hotel isn’t built. That indemnity was agreed before the final plans went to the planning committee, where they were passed, even though they include a hideous plastic and metal box building being tacked on to the back of our Victorian Gothic Town Hall.I wonder if Cllr Manro might care to comment on why the indemnity was given before his committee met to decide on the plans.
Simon Hayes ● 1261d