The case against a Conservation Area for Northfields
Currently the Council is consulting on the introduction of a Conservation Area (CA) in the Northfields area in south/central Ealing where I live. The CA will cover 7,000 properties that are spread over the Walpole and Northfield Wards to the south of Uxbridge Road down to Little Ealing Lane. The proposed CA straddles Northfield Avenue which runs from the north to south in the area. Following pressure from a very small number of local residents the Council held an informal consultation in 2022 asking local people if they wished to see a CA introduced in our area. No recognised residents’ association was consulted about the proposal. 181 residents responded to the consultation representing just 2% of households in the area. Despite this limited response (and not all respondents were in favour) the Council pressed ahead with the current statutory consultation exercise asking the 7,000 affected households for their views on Northfields becoming a CA. https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201164/local_plan/3125/new_local_planNorthfields - where I have lived for over 40 years - is pleasant enough. But it is nothing special. There are thousands of suburban neighbourhoods up and down the country just like Northfields. Indeed the area should have been classed as a CA 120 years ago when it was a relatively coherent urban form made up of Edwardian terraced and semi-detached housing. But not now. In any case the buildings that have some architectural merit in Northfields are already listed under current planning legislation and, in effect, cannot be altered in any significant way. The two most significant buildings in this respect are the Underground station itself and, almost due opposite, the 1930s Moorish style cinema now used by the Ealing Christian Centre. Many residential and commercial properties in Northfields have had extensions of all kinds and the exterior of many properties has changed beyond recognition – front walls have been rebuilt, porches have been added, windows have been replaced and some front gardens have been dug up and turned into hard standings for car parking (and the charging of electric vehicles these days). Quite frankly, the area has ‘been and gone’ and cannot be judged as anything exceptional. It certainly ain’t no Brentham Estate or Bedford Park, existing CAs in Ealing. I also fear that the declaration of a CA would stymie any new building in the area. There are one or two sites in the locality that could provide much needed housing but a developer would find it near impossible to build on those sites if a CA was declared. Furthermore loft extensions would require full planning permission before they could proceed. An expensive and time-consuming process. Most loft extensions are now allowed under permitted development rights. Also the construction of bungalows in garden land that run alongside our side streets would become (in effect) a thing of the past. So the supply of additional housing units/bedrooms/living space could be significantly curtailed by the creation of the CA. What’s more the CA might – depending on the consequent changes to permitted development rights – see household efforts to improve the energy efficiency of their homes thwarted. The installation of solar panels and external wall insulation might fall foul of the new regulations. Bin covers in front gardens would undoubtedly need planning permission as would cycle sheds. Permission would also be needed for some tree pruning. I kid you not. And who would police this new CA? Ealing’s Planning service is already under severe pressure as are many others in London and beyond. Would the Council really be able to recruit the staff needed to deal with all the additional work associated with the creation of the CA? And where would the funding come from? Councillors too would get caught up in endless disputes about the application of the new planning rules. Is that what they really wanted to do when putting themselves up to serve our local community? The London Plan calls for Ealing to facilitate the building of over 21,570 homes in the ten years to 2028/29 , many on small infill sites in neighbourhoods like Northfields. If a CA is declared in Northfields that task would become that much more difficult. In a city like London where density levels are one seventh those in Paris, we should add to our housing stock in a sensitive way in areas like Northfields. We also have most of the infrastructure to support incremental increases in our housing stock (although the electricity grid could be upgraded and we could do with more GP surgeries). But this is not just a parochial issue affecting me and where I live. I am afraid if conservation interests in other urban communities in London and elsewhere call for the creation of CAs the opportunities to increase housing supply will become ever harder. As population increases through rises in net migration and for other reasons too, this can only lead to more homelessness, more overcrowding and higher rents and house prices. CAs are needed in sensitive urban settings that contain buildings of significant architectural value. But please not in Northfields.
Roger Jarman ● 199d27 Comments ● 144d