Forum Topic

More flats - over Waitrose West Ealing

"The John Lewis Partnership has revealed the first three sites of its new rental homes project.Waitrose’s parent company is set to build new housing at three proposed locations, including over the supermarket’s shops in Bromley and West Ealing, in London, as well as replacing a vacant John Lewis warehouse in Mill Lane, Reading."Stack 'em high - but I bet they won't sell 'em cheap. :-)https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-08/john-lewis-picks-london-sites-for-new-homes-over-waitrose-shops

Kenneth Day ● 1189d39 Comments

"Far too many on the make from all this and far too many in administration all to happy to ride on the back of this."Absolutely correctimundo ............... 👌

Rosco White ● 1182d

They won't tackle real issues,only perceived issues that have popularity from spin and revenue raising potential.Avoid real issues at all costs. Like over population and encouraged overdensification with no means for infrastructure to really accommodate this in a satisfactory way.Heads are buried in the sand and none of these characters will risk their highly paid salaries and career prospects to dare stand up and break rank.It's a culture that course through this country from top to bottom. Far to many on the make from all this and far too many in administration all to happy to ride on the back of this.

Raymond Havelock ● 1182d

A posting on NextDoor:-from an article in the Economist MAY 24th The GLA wrote to the person in charge of planning and economic development in the borough of Ealing – who is this? Lucy Taylor? The letter, entitled "Electricity Capacity in west London", noted that housing developers were facing delays in connecting new homes to the grid, and that electricity would not be available to them until between 2027 and 2030. New battery-storage systems and data centres had already gobbled up capacityA boom in data-centre construction has affected west London particularly badly. This area is only a small part of a regional grid that covers a swathe of southern England, but it has received 90% of all applications to connect data centres to that grid in the past two years. The amount of electricity these new facilities require is very roughly the same as west London's entire existing capacity.  Should companies wanting to install Data Centres go first to the National Grid, for guidance before going down the planning route? Or should a planning authority inform the National Grid on receiving planning applications for large developments or data centres. Perhaps this already happens, but if so, something has gone badly wrong somewhere.Where do Data Centres sit in the Local Plan?  - Did Data Centres exist in 2012 when Ealing’s Local Plan was written?What about other services, South Acton Estate aka Acton Gardens has been experiencing water and water pressure problems for some time, do other areas of high development – Southall – North Acton have similar problems?What provisions have been made for increasing sewerage and drain capacity in the Edwardian streets, where the two bathroom, one washing machine homes have been carved up into 5 or 7 flats, some with two bathrooms per flat and each flat with a washing machine? Should there be a maximum number of conversions per street to allow the Edwardian pipework cope?  And then there is access to reliable fast Broadband?None of this appears to have been discussed at Local Plan meetings?

Rosco White ● 1183d

It's the same story in Brentford, which having had both a pumping station and filtration beds has a lot of very old infrastructure under the streets.Water pressure is regularly tested and pressure has dropped in the last decade to service the larger buildings. Latest is the next series of developments will over stretch supply and waste beyond the limits and water pressure drops will meant even 2 up 2 down terraced houses will need additional pumps to provide upstairs water pressure and boilers located on the first floor or loft water tanks.None of this is taken on board in planning or infrastructure meeting as it seems to not be considered part of a development overview.Certainly the views of utility companies and the Fire Service carry little if no bearing, unlike their counterparts in other older and large developed cities across the globe.  The FDNY for one has a big say in developments but unfortunately has also had the hand of corruption stroking on more than a few occasions but a determination at least to stamp it out.

Raymond Havelock ● 1184d

@Simon Hayes. We often have Thames Water round here in Pitshanger Lane, to the extent that it would be easier if they all clubbed together & bought a place here. Save them travelling. We’re on chatting terms with them & they said that Ealing is close on the limit for its water infrastructure, any more people and we would see standpipes,maybe rationing. We have already had our pressure reduced. The new development,,10 stories high, due to be built at the end of PL would make demands on the infrastructure that one has to doubt would hold. I say nothing about GPs,dentists,schools, transport and the like.This is just one development; there are many more throughout the borough. Would all those so opposed to mass indiscriminate immigration care to let me know where they should go. I shall be 80 year after next so the future is of only short time interest to me but what about the generations to follow.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1184d

They might vote Monster Raving Loony for all anybody knows or cares.The fact remains that Ealing is going to be massively overpopulated with scarcely any facilities. The water and electricity supplies are already at stretching point.Ealing Council hasn’t encouraged hone building for those hours really need it, otherwise the waiting list for social housing wouldn’t have risen to over 12,000 under the Labour administration. They had the money to build old fashioned council housing but elected not to use it for that. ‘Genuinely affordable’ is out of reach for those on low incomes.The council compounded its neglect of its planning responsibilities by failing to produce legally required Authority Monitoring Reports for five years, opening the door wider for more big towers in the borough. Of course, that benefits the developers but not those whose areas are blighted by high rise boxes. Nobody has accepted responsibility for not producing these reports, nor has any explanation been given.Things will get worse. If Perceval House goes ahead it will see a huge development in central Ealing but without any outside space provision for those residents. They will he told ‘go to the park’. And no schools, medical facilities or anything else.

Simon Hayes ● 1185d

Ah, here we go, some inking at your horror at providing homes for people? That they might be labour voters?

Paul Richard James ● 1185d

More abuse.

Paul Richard James ● 1185d

They sure as hell will vote Labour so the sorry cycle (pun intended) can continue!

Peter King ● 1185d

Can you ever write something that’s factual and accurate?Simply cramming more people into Ealing without adequate facilities is counterproductive. But I suppose you think all these people will simply cycle to what they need.

Simon Hayes ● 1185d

>Wow, some very simplistic reasoning from the cycling brigadeCan you ever write or say anything without being abusive?

Paul Richard James ● 1185d

Of course those people who bought council homes are part of the 40%.They were sold to those who occupied them - at a huge discount.I've never agreed with this but do think people should have to right to own a home if they can.It gave a huge leg up for those who could not but the flaw was the lack of replacement stock.The other flaw was instant selling on and profiteering.  That should have been limited. It was supposed to be for your home to live in.Upmarket renting might bring in the odd doctor or so but only for a while until they move on.  Ironic too that a significant number of Met Police who do get preferential home finance live outside London but own flats that they rent out in Greater London made possible by their free travel perk.  Something exposed accidentally some years back by the Green party.

Raymond Havelock ● 1185d

Wow, some very simplistic reasoning from the cycling brigade. Perhaps try haven’t been following the planning debacles in Ealing over the past decade.Councils are entitled to collect money from developers as part of any granting of planning permission, under what’s called a Section 106 agreement. That money is supposed to be used to provide the infrastructure required to service the population growth (and cycling infrastructure doesn’t count). This includes medical facilities and other essentials.Ealing has been spectacularly poor in declaring how much it has taken from developers or where the money has been spent. It’s clear that many developments have had little or no s106 money used to provide the basics. The consensus is that Julian Bell, Peter Mason and the rest of the planning cohort wanted to keep their developer friends ‘onside’ to continue making Ealing an attractive proposition. Obviously those MIPIM freebies to Cannes weren’t in vain.An alternative to s106 agreements has been available for years, the Community Infrastructure Levy. As the name implies that money has to be spent on providing such things as GP surgeries, schools and all the rest. It’s ring fenced for those types of project and is calculated on the square metrage of the development. The sums would be more substantial than s106 monies given the size of developments locally.Ealing won’t introduce the CIL, despite having it under ‘consideration’ since 2016, largely because it prefers profits to stay in the hands of developers rather than being distributed for the benefit of residents. That policy isn’t going to change any time soon.

Simon Hayes ● 1185d

Sadly most hospital doctors on middle grades could not even dream of getting a mortgage on a flat or house in Ealing. Councils and government have done a great disservice to those upon whom we rely to look after us, teach our children, empty our bins and provide all of the vital services that keep a city going.

N V Brooks ● 1185d

Who's talking about professional people? The people who keep this city moving and working also need accommodation.

David Burke ● 1185d

We have no details as yet of course but somehow I don’t see GPs, dentists, hospital doctors,and the like renting flats. Especially as this is not exactly an upmarket area. These professionals tend to go for the posh parts of Ealing. I would love to be proved wrong but I imagine their income allows them to buy rather than rent.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1185d

A very good point, also it should be remembered that before Thatcher started flogging off Council housing , 40% of Londoners lived in social housing.

David Burke ● 1186d

>There are going to be a heck of a lot of people in these flats all expecting GP surgery/ dentist/hospital/ schools, etc.A lot of people seem to leave out that people occupying new living spaces could be the VERY people communities need for these very things.

Paul Richard James ● 1186d

Raymond certainly makes an excellent point re transient communities. I live just off Pitshanger Lane. So far, there is a fairly good community feel to it ( although if developers get their way things may change)lf you speak to most of us you will discover we’ve been here for donkey’s years,sending the kiddies to the same school as their parents.However there’s also another aspect which doesn’t seemed to have been touched on greatly here. Facilities. There are going to be a heck of a lot of people in these flats all expecting GP surgery/ dentist/hospital/ schools, etc. By the time this project is finished I shall doubtless be no more but it doesn’t stop me from sighing over the deterioration of the environment. Doubtless the flats will be glorified rabbit hutches if they follow present trends.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1186d

It's not uncommon for people to move about, but it's also not always by choice.My American relatives have moved so often I can't even list where they have lived.It's always been for work reasons and it is very common.But then the price is the very dysfunctional fragmented society.Every relative I asked all have a place they would have preferred to stay and their kids are all with problems from moving so much.And Ironically only one has come here and loved it because it " Seemed so organically permanent"It is probably the best bit of living here but so many are so keen to change it.

Raymond Havelock ● 1186d

Are we really going to tell people that they can't move about? some people's jobs require it. I know loads of people in Acton who've lived there for decades. I don't think that's going to change any time soon.

Susan Kelly ● 1186d

The late Jonathan Sacks' proverbial 'hotel society'. >>> https://fabians.org.uk/homes-and-hotels/

Tony Heath ● 1186d

........ civic pride........ 😁

Rosco White ● 1187d

It's palpable, in Acton in particular over the years, as Owner Occupier numbers continue to dwindle at pace.Yes, yes, yes, before The Usual High Horse Riders' Indignation Levels go through the roof, I am very aware some transients are responsible, have civil pride, are good citizens, integrate, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah .......

Rosco White ● 1187d

No Civic Pride, No Integration in community, No participation or organic integration into community. Just the hope that they can afford to eat out and hopefully locally.Usually the Novelty means they eat in Town and flit all over the city enjoying it while it lasts before moving on.

Raymond Havelock ● 1187d

I hope they are decent landlords too, but they have operated in a dog eat dog business for many years so expect market rate rents.Transient populations damage communities too in the sense that someone only staying a year or two in a community might not make the same investment,show the same interest or have any real sense sense of belonging to it,a la 'here today, gone tomorrow'.

Keith Iddon ● 1188d

That's quite true.  I really hope John Lewis turn out to be a mould breaker in rentals and don't metamorphosise into the appalling ways of some Housing Associations one of the worst of which is based in this borough.It could be a good thing.But a highly transient population in too great a number is not such a good thing. It damages stability and quality of life and  plays into the hands of vested interests.

Raymond Havelock ● 1188d

I gather that there's a shortage of good rental properties at the moment. I would rather have John Lewis as my landlord than some shyster. London has a more transient population than other cities so needs rentals. Buying is not appropriate to everyone's circumstances all the time.

Susan Kelly ● 1188d

Keith - these will be rentals not for sale, part of a new strategy John Lewis has to diversify its business.Regardless, housing is anyway a top down market. When the top of the market is stagnant, the rest of the market is stagnant. More stock of any kind creates fluidity in the market so as people trade up more stock is made available further down the chain. This is a good thing.

James Putland ● 1188d

It won't be affordable in the true sense of the ethos.It may well be 'affordable' to those who can afford to shop at John Lewis and Waitrose.Whilst most aspire to that and shop on occasion wishing they could shop at either all the time the true reality is that it is only for a certain demographic.However if John Lewis are to be believed, maybe they will be a groundbreaker and shake up the rental market so in the grip of property developing associates.But a transient population of short to mid term rents is already a very bad thing damaging all round.Is more of that what is really needed?

Raymond Havelock ● 1188d

What’s affordable?Ealing Council build ‘genuinely affordable’ housing yet the fact that the waiting list for homes in the borough has risen to over 12,000 suggests that housing isn't targeted at those really in need.This development is aimed at the demographic that John Lewis expects will shop at Waitrose. The following paragraph gives the game away:‘Chris Harris, property and development director at John Lewis, said in an interview that proximity to the Elizabeth line was one of the key reasons for choosing the West Ealing store as one of the first sites for redevelopment.’Don’t expect many social housing tenants shop at Waitrose or will be commuting on the Elizabeth line...

Simon Hayes ● 1188d

We will see.

Keith Iddon ● 1189d

I don't understand the responses here. As others have said this to Build to Rent and will be owned and managed by John Lewis/Waitrose. No ridiculously priced sales, no rich foreign landlords.

Terry Freestone ● 1189d

No they won't 'sell 'em cheap' as they are for rental. Surely John Lewis's whole structure and ethos suggests that they will be affordable.

Susan Kelly ● 1189d

We are supposed to be in a housing crisis, Sue.Building new properties like this does not solve it, it just provides a cash cow for the rich in order that they become richer.More French people live here than vice versa, or at least that was the story a few years ago.

Keith Iddon ● 1189d

Reading the article it says that the intention is to build flats to remain in the ownership of the John Lewis Group, and that will be for short- and longterm rental, So not for sale, which rather knocks the idea that they will remain empty or investment objects owned by non-residents and left empty. As for the argument against second homes - take a look at a lot of England and Wales, not to mention France and Spain. There are plenty of British second-home owners who pay local taxes that help subsidize local services. As long as these second homes are not taking affordable housing off the market, where is the harm?

Sue Rowe ● 1189d

No James, bad news.It will be more second homes for some,rented out at huge rents and more investements for foreign speculators wishing to wash their money,and left empty like many of the flats built in Brentford.

Keith Iddon ● 1189d

Good news. The site can be better utilised and more homes made available.

James Putland ● 1189d

More rental and more marketing. And thus ends the trust that was Waitress and John Lewis.

Raymond Havelock ● 1189d