Warren Farm Campaigners Plan Demonstration
Protest to be held outside Town Hall to 'save Ealing's skylarks'
Protesters will be encouraged to bring placards and banners
February 8, 2023
A major protest is being planned in the centre of Ealing following the council’s decision to progress plans to restore sports facilities to Warren Farm.
The Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) and the Warren Farm Nature Reserve are holding a demonstration outside the Town Hall on New Broadway on Tuesday 21 February from 5.30pm – 7pm. This will be ahead of an Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting taking place that evening at which the administration’s proposals for the site will be debated.
The meeting has been called by the Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Gary Malcolm. The committee, made up of backbench councillors, has the power to refer the decision back to the council’s cabinet for further discussion and gives an opportunity for councillors to cancel or delay any decision of the proposed development.
Anyone against the plan to build on the rewilded section of the Nature Reserve is welcome to attend the prior demonstration and bring placards and signs and wear wildlife inspired costumes and facepaints.
A family-friendly atmosphere is promised with people of all ages expected to attend calling for Ealing’s skylarks to be saved.
The organisers will be providing downloadable bird songs that you can play through your mobile phone via their website.
There will be an opportunity for people attending the protest to watch the council meeting taking place that evening live.
The Brent River & Canal Society and the Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign group are bringing expert witnesses to the meeting to challenge the council’s case.
Since Ealing Council published its proposal on 17 January, the campaign’s petition calling for a Local Nature Reserve on the entire site has received 4,500 more signatures. It now stands at 18,200.
Support has also come in from a number of high profile environmentalists such as wildlife writer and conservationist Kabir Kaul, wildlife TV presenter and conservationist Chris Packham, President of The Wildlife Trusts Liz Bonnin, London RSPB chief Andrew Peel, London Wildlife Trust Policy Director Matthew Frith, President of the RSPB and Vice President of the Wildlife Trusts Dr Amir Khan, TV and Radio presenter naturalist and ornithologist Lolo Williams, conservationist and presenter and founder of Ealing Wildlife Group Dr Sean McCormack, and conservationist and Director of Rewilding Britain Alastair Driver, among others.
Katie Boyles, Trustee of the Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) and Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign organiser, said, “Until now, we have not called any street demonstrations. We thought it only fair to give Ealing Council the benefit of the doubt to do the right thing after the conversations we have had with Leader, Peter Mason and Deputy Leader, Deirdre Costigan. We have shared with them expert evidence of why Warren Farm is such a unique and species-rich site and why our meadow, which has had 14 years to rewild, more than qualifies for full Local Nature Reserve designation. But sadly their decision to develop on half of Warren Farm, pushed through by cabinet councillors at a recent cabinet meeting, would be an irreversible act of environmental vandalism, so we now have no choice.
“This decision, if not thrown out, would destroy the breeding ground of a quarter of London’s Skylarks and see the extinction in London of Copse Bindweed, to name one plant species of importance growing here, with Warren Farm being the only site in London it grows. There is no such thing as losing just one species, it creates a domino effect of species loss. It’s absolutely vital, seeing as we live in one of the most nature depleted countries in the world and are in a Climate Emergency, that our wildlife is protected.”
BRCS Trustee Steven Toft added, “If the council is going to develop a site of such ecological importance it really needs to have a watertight case for doing so. This report did not make that case so it is only right that the decision should be challenged and subjected to scrutiny – which is what the Overview and Scrutiny panel is for. We will be bringing in experts to challenge this decision, but we need to hear from everyone else too. If you don’t want this de-wilding plan to go ahead, please join us at the Town Hall.”
For those unable to attend the demonstration, the groups are urging their supporters to object to the proposed development by writing to their local councillors, using the Local Plan consultation process deadline 8 February and to sign the petition which can be found on the campaign website.
The council’s cabinet unanimously supported the proposal to seek a partner to develop the sports facilities on the site which council leader Peter Mason described as a win-win. By incorporating nearby land into a new nature reserve, the area to be built on will ultimately only be around half of the total site and the amount of green space accessible to the public will be increased..
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