Forum Topic

Waitrose West Ealing

Waitrose want to demolish its supermarket. It's less than 20 years old. It replaced the original Waitrose store on the site which also lasted less then 20 years. The houses close by are over 100 years old. They may have been extended or re-purposed into two flats, but the investment in energy, bricks and mortar etc is still in place. We should not be allowing such environmental vandalism.Transport for London has announced that when developers build on top of a car park the site becomes car-free. So Waitrose will not be allowed to build a replacement car park.Residents in West Ealing and Hanwell have in the last year suffered power cuts. A electrical sub-station in the centre of West Ealing set on fire during one of these power cuts. The power companies namely SSEN and National Grid have an enormous task on their hands to replace old and tired sub-stations with new ones. Also power is not infinite. With over 1,000 new residents expected in the Waitrose, Manor Road, and Hastings Road developments over the next few years, will there be sustainable energy available for all of them? All new residents will be less then 5 minutes walk from West Ealing station.Finally we have the farce which is The Elizabeth Line. For many months now commuters have been unable to board the east bound trains in the morning rush hour at West Ealing station. They are so crammed with passengers, no-one else can board the train. If close access to the Elizabeth Line for commuting to central London/the City is the reason for buying/renting at Waitrose - potential occupies will quickly spot   this rail service failure and may be put off renting/buying.

Eric Alan Leach ● 353d22 Comments

Environmental vandalism.  I agree, but am thinking of the GSK building.

Nicholas Beard ● 335d

"not all the planning decisions go the way the council wants. One notable example is the Gurnell development that was turned down by the committee a couple of years ago. Even Labour members voted against, despite it being a plan conceived by the council itself."  (21/06/24 23:17:00 Simon Hayes)There IS the odd (very odd) occasion where the Planning Committee members develop a momentary conscience............(22/06/24 10:39:00 Rosco White)In relation to that Gurnell development, ref. 201695FUL, the Planning Committee rejected the Planning Application on 17th  March 2021. Perhaps the Labour members voted against it because the Mayoral and Assembly elections were taking place at the beginning of May 2021. Labour run Ealing Council did not want to incur the wrath of the electoate so close to that election. it seems.Now safely after that election, Labour run Ealing Council have ressurected the proposals to build housing on Metropolitan Open Land and in the River Brent flood plain, together with a replacement for the original Gurnell Swimming Pool, ref. 241706OUTR3.It seems that Labour run Ealing Council, whenever possible, inorder to meet some perceived goal in their deluded heads will brownnose some developer above them. Whilst at the same time being disingenuous to the people of the L.B. of Ealing.It seems as if the People are beneath them, except perhaps at election time. Getting rid of Planning Notification Letters seems to have been part of this process.If this is how Labour run Ealing Council operate locally, I would not want a national government run by the Labour Party and their leader, Sir Starmer with the Lego hair.

Anthony Hawran ● 335d

Thank you Mr Barchuk.

Rosco White ● 342d

Students can vote twice in local elections (at their permanent home address and where they live as students) but should only have one vote at national elections. However, electoral registers are held locally, so there is no practical means to check if someone has a vote in more than one constituency where the constituencies are not in the same electoral area eg. it would be possible to spot someone registered in both Ealing Southall and Ealing North but not if one of the registrations were outside Ealing.

Vlod Barchuk ● 342d

You are correct.There IS the odd (very odd) occasion where the Planning Committee members develop a momentary conscience............

Rosco White ● 344d

That’s not what I said.The legwork for planning committees is done by planning officers. Discussions between the developers and the council planning department will have been ongoing for years before anything goes before the committee. So it is a stitch up in some respects.However, not all the planning decisions go the way the council wants. One notable example is the Gurnell development that was turned down by the committee a couple of years ago. Even Labour members voted against, despite it being a plan conceived by the council itself.

Simon Hayes ● 344d

I must beg to differ Mr Hayes, I think it DOES work that way, and VERY much so.You will NEVER convince me that the Liebore Planning Committee members aren't whipped.If you need any convincing whatsoever, schlepp along to a Planning Committee meeting sometime and observe the shenanigans.Anyone who thinks for a nano-second that the Planning Committee is truly 100% independent, well ...........  😉

Rosco White ● 344d

The planning committee doesn’t work quite like that. They are mainly swayed by the recommendations of the planning officers employed by the council, and often aren’t fully familiar with the areas in the borough where applications are being decided. Hence some rather large towers in entirely inappropriate places.

Simon Hayes ● 345d

Heaven forbid that sways the Liebore controlled Planning Committee.I mean, the Planning Committee is completely unbiased, independent and impartial......🤣

Rosco White ● 345d

Well, Ealing Labour would love to have more students living in the borough as traditionally they vote left.

Simon Hayes ● 346d

Students can vote in two different council areas (home and term time addresses) in local and PCC elections but not for mayoral or General Elections. https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/who-can-vote/students

Joanna Dabrowska ● 346d

"That's another lie your handlers ..."Well, methinks you'd know a lot about "Handlers"?  "....have persuaded you to peddle to undermine this country's institutions" Are you on something?  😳"these authorities are aware of the dual registration"Yeah, "these authorities" are so well known for efficiency and being on the ball aren't they.    😂

Rosco White ● 347d

Not speculating but much of the 'student' acommodation has yet to be occupied. Expensive court cases would loom if a council objected to a 'change of use' application. There are already applications in Ealing (High Street development being one) for shared used developments with shared kitchen facilities if you look at the plans.

N V Brooks ● 347d

Students can't vote twice. That's another lie your handlers have persuaded you to peddle to undermine this country's institutions.Local authorities maintain electoral registers, and when a voter is registered in two places, these authorities are aware of the dual registration. If you try and vote twice you are likely to end up with a criminal record.As for student accommodation being a way to build flats for general use - I don't believe that is happening because it is a particular class of use for which smaller units are allowed. Are you actually aware of any cases where these rules have been flouted or are you just airily speculating?

Mark Evans ● 347d

And we all wonder who most Students vote for.Don't we.  🤣Oh, and often twice, at their lodgings and again at their parent's address.

Rosco White ● 347d

It is also a way of circumventing minimum space standards and kitchen/bathroom provision. How much 'student' accomodation does Ealing need. The huge development on the Hanger Lane gyratory is 'student' accomodation as are the planned blocks in Noth Acton. I rather suspect that this is a bit of 'sleight of hand' by the developers.

N V Brooks ● 347d

Building student accommodation takes pressure off the private rental sector in Ealing. Young professional people in this area often find themselves outbid by overseas students with larger budgets.While you are right that electricity capacity is an issue, the increase in population is not the primary cause of stress on the grid. There has been a huge growth in the number of data centres particularly along the A40 which are voracious users of power.London has been asked to take the burden of the much needed growth in housing starts because the current government doesn't want development in the Home Counties. However, you can't blame pressure on services on population growth, across the country people are complaining about issues with public services, even where the local population is in decline. Services are failing because of inadequate investment.Labour haven't really spelt it out but when they talk about changes to the planning laws this probably means that areas such as the ones along the outer reaches of the Elizabeth line will now have to do some of the heavy lifting in housing starts taking the pressure off areas like West Ealing.

Mark Evans ● 347d

Eric, Ealing council has reduced its housing waiting list to about 7,500 by the simple expedient of telling the other 5,000 that they will never be housed here and simply wiping them off the list.The Majestic site redevelopment is to be student accommodation, and not for students in Ealing, so will do precisely nothing to solve the ‘housing crisis’.What does seem strange is that there’s an expectation that London’s population can simply keep growing, largely through more people arriving here to live bd work. At some point services will simply fail. There’s already unsustainable pressure on the electricity supply, while the sewage system is overloaded too.Capacity planning is virtually non-existent in the UK. Millions of pounds are subsequently spent retrofitting or replacing infrastructure that’s not that old. Pretty stupid really.A lot of what is planned is already agreed with the council. Public opposition cuts no ice. Peter Mason brought in his mate Tony Clement as CEO of the borough a couple of years ago (on a £200k pa salary) to ensure the ambitious building targets would get pushed through. Clement was previously Head of Place (ie planning) at Ealing before being given a £75,000 payoff which should have precluded him from returning as chief executive, but didn’t.

Simon Hayes ● 352d

Wow! If full-up isn't a signal for failure - then what is?Rush hour trains from east of central London run every 4 minutes. I see no sign of this scheduling happening on the west to east Elizabeth Line.There is a long standing discipline called 'capacity planning'. As for the housing crisis, I doubt whether any of those 12,000 on the Council Housing Waiting List will ever live in the Waitrose development - if it actually does get built.John Lewis/Waitrose recently announced a change of strategy - concentrating on making its retailing profitable as opposed to entering new markets like financial services and housing.

Eric Alan Leach ● 352d

It's hardly a rail service failure if the train is too busy. Instead it's indicative of overwhelming success. The Lizzy line is the busiest in the UK.I do feel sorry for the people living in the shadow of these tower blocks.

Jeremy Harcup ● 352d

Not to worry you won't be able to see the Waitrose tower blocks for the towers being built onthe old Majestic Wine site and the one on the corner of Manor Road. None of these will do anything to solve the need for family homes being rented shoeboxes with the two sites adjacent to Wiatrose barely meeting the minimum space standards.Sadly there are those who believe that Ealing is the new Manhattan and afre prepared to accept 'shoebox towers' in the belief that they help to solve a housing 'crisis'.

N V Brooks ● 352d

It’s a brownfield site next to key transport links.we are in a housing crisis with millions on waiting lis, cramped accomodation. If we can’t built flats here then we can’t build anywhere. There is a replacement car park which will be underground.

Andrew Boynton ● 352d