Forum Topic

Local Development Framework Consultation

There seems to be very little information about this or the process involved. Is there a simple guide to all this anywhere? Has anyone using this forum contributed and knows how to contribute?

Jeff Belsen ● 5648d14 Comments

Eric,The objections have been ignored. The LDF has been "passed" by the Gov Inspector even though there were no Asian names on the list of consultees I saw. So the LDF team can pedal off to Mipim and leave the housing crisis behind them. And the LDF committee (Tory, Lib-dem and Labour) can continue to ignore my letters while a group of self serving officers run the show. Our democracy has come out of this very badly.

Arthur Breens ● 5175d

Ealing Council's Leader Councillor Bell has set up an LDF Committee. It will meet for the first time at 7:00pm in Ealing Town Hall on Thursday 21 July, 2011. Apparently the delegates to this committee number nine people , seven of them Councillors and the other two being Council Officers. No doubt this is not a secret meeting so residents can go and watch the deliberations.The Ealing Council Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy, which was published in September 2010 is expected to be submitted to national government for approval in the next few weeks. Many of us have every confidence that all of the hundreds of objections submitted in October/November 2010 as part of a consultation exercise have been ignored.As the Council's LDF Core Strategy has not been approved by national government (and is unlikely to be for many months) on wonders just what this LDF Committee will actually discuss.

Eric Alan Leach ● 5412d

I live in North Acton where the council plans to build hundreds of new units. There was a visit from the planners to the recent East Acton Forum, but my question about planned infrastructure and resources, including medical, educational, electrical power, water, gas, and especially sewage, was answered by a very confused silence. There is a current shortage of all resources, and already frequent flooding along the routes of the main sewers towards the treatment works in Acton Vale without huge additional additional demands. Residents have already been subjected to inconvenience as the sewage system was upgraded in an attempt to address current problems. New loads will require substantial increases in capability.

Chris Bell ● 5499d

Even though hundreds of residents' objections to the LDF proposals were sent to Ealing Council in November 2010, I know of no-one who has received even an acknowlegement of their contribution.We hear through the grapevine that none of the objections will be actioned in the proposals to be sent to National Governemnt. The Council intends to send off the versions of the documents it published in September 2010.In the latest issue of the Council's glossy magazine for property developers ('Ealing in London') the LDF is trumpeted throughout the document as though it's a done deal. In reality the Council has yet to even submit its LDF Core Strategy to National Government for approval.

Eric Alan Leach ● 5500d

No Eric. Chelmsford collected 4000 LDF replies. That was because they cared what the people thought. Chelmsford by the way has about a third of the population of Ealing. Our LDF team see us and our submissions as a chore. So we won't get a thank you or a debate . No nuffink.

Arthur Breens ● 5588d

LDF Objection Forms were submitted in their 100s right up to the 30 November 2010 deadline. I know 20 people who submitted objections but none of us, some three weeks later, has received even an acknowledgement of receipt of our objectons.You'd think that Ealing Council would have at least counted all the responses and at the very least announced just how many responses they received - but no.Maybe Ealing Council is expecting that the Government's recent Localism Bill will invalidate (and perhaps replace) the LDF, which after all was a Labour Government concotion in 2004.

Eric Alan Leach ● 5591d

Forget development, we're never going to be able to afford it.Think maintenance from now on.

Eric Alan Leach ● 5643d

My word, you chaps are going to love what the current government have in store for planning.  Clue: you won't get consulted at all next time, there's a 'presumption in favour of development' in there.  If you conclude that it's been written by and for the development community and west London's Tory councils, you're probably right.

Thomas Barry ● 5643d

Eric,A positive contribution is defined in mathematical terms. A negative contribution is a basement or cellar and therefore a positive contribution means anything that rises above a ground level datum. Sorry. I am becoming more and more angry when people working in the council tell me lies. On Wednesday 27 Oct that's yesterday the council's mywardmatters team sent me an email. It was this..."Did you know that....The Ealing Council's Planning and Policy Team produce an e-bulletin that aims to inform you about the progress towards delivering the Local Development Framework (LDF) for Ealing. The team have produced regular updates to you keep up to date (their typo not mine) and provide helpful information to raise awareness and understanding of the LDF."I never received these regular updates because most were never sent. No one else received them either. The team may have produced updates on a regular basis but to not send them is not helpful.And for mywardmatters not to have clicked to this phew.

Arthur Breens ● 5644d

It might well be.The new LDF proposals make no prescriptive statements about the height of new buildings as such but rely instead on this less than useful 'policy' proposal:'...to refuse any new building that fails to make a positive contribution to the urban environment'.Is there anyone out there who can make a stab at defining what 'positive contribution' might mean?

Eric Alan Leach ● 5646d

So this would be a good place to try and make my views felt on ugly skyscrapers (if they ever get published?)?

Jeff Belsen ● 5646d

There is a Council presentation at St Thomas’s Church in the Boston Road starting at 7.30 p.m tonight.

George Knox ● 5646d

Jeff,Eric has got to the heart of the LDF in amazingly few words. Conversely I could write a book. Here are some chapter headings. Mipim the property fair in Cannes. Ealing sold at Cannes. Ealing the Global Player. Ealing "punching below its weight". Landmark tall buildings (Skyscrapers)favoured by Economic Regeneration team but rejected by people.(And John Denham MP). More landmark tall building to come. Framework unchanged after housing targets overwhemingly rejected by people in 2009 LDF round. Housing targets considerably lower in neighbouring boroughs. Why? LDF discussion banned at Ward Forums? 38 written  responses from an adult population of 200,000 heralds success for the 2009 LDF consultation. Toxic responses hidden. Ealing-industrial/garage sites converted to housing..lady drives to India for car oil change. Some crucial docs not available at consultation start. Current crisis in primary school places set to get worse with LDF proposals...potential sites earmarked for housing. Consultation extended with no explanation. Secret venue chosen for key LDF meeting. Gasworks town dropped into the centre of crowded Southall. Huge public land sale begins. Consultation hobbled by major IT gaff. Cock-up or conspiracy. Southall community leader requests 4000 printed response forms. Inspector rejects Ealing LDF. Ecomomic regeneration team promoted. (Enough of that Ed.)

Arthur Breens ● 5647d

No there is no simple guide to the Ealing 2026 LDF. The documents run to over 600 pages and there are three separate, formatted response forms.It will cost you £55 to buy a set of the Ealing 2026 LDF proposals. You can inspect a copy of these documents at Ealing Public Libraries.If you live in Hanwell you can attend a meeting on Hanwell's LDF tomorrow evening at St Thomas' Church on Boston Road (7:30pm). However Acton, Ealing centre, Greenford and Southall LDF meetings have already taken place.For sheer simplicity the core of the LDF plans is to build 10,000 new homes at identified sites all just 800 metres from Acton, Ealing Broadway, West Ealing and Southall Stations. However there are precious few identified sites where new schools, healthcare centres and Police Stations will be built to support these 25,000 new residents.So a simple objection that you might email to planning@ealing.gov.uk is:Ealing LDF 2026 Strategy 1.2(c) states that the LDF should '...deliver the right levels of infrastructure for growth'. Ealing Council plans to build 10,000 homes in the centres around Acton, Ealing Broadway, West Ealing and Southall Stations at designated sites with a totally inadequate number of local, identified sites for new educational, healthcare and law and order facilities. As such these plans fail to meet the infrastructure needs for this 25,000 residential growth in these areas.

Eric Alan Leach ● 5648d