Ealing Lib Dems Seek Coalition Against Draft Local Plan
Want to link up with groups who have not been engaged in the process
Gary Malcolm is unhappy with proposal to redesignate Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land
April 13, 2023
The leader of the opposition on Ealing Council, Cllr Gary Malcolm, says he wants to make contact with local groups in the borough who have not yet become involved in the process of drafting the local plan.
The Liberal Democrat believes that many organisations have not yet properly engaged with the exercise to develop the Local Draft Development Plan and are unaware of its implications.
He criticised the council for the lack of transparency and what he describes as “a theoretical approach not grounded in evidence or engagement with businesses and residents”.
The plan allows for the redesignation of Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) in the borough which he fears may lead to more building on open spaces.
A petition against the move has been launched by the Lib Dems and opponents of the draft plan have been boosted by a letter written to Ealing Council by the Mayor’s office urging them not to incorporate the redesignation of land in the plan.
The letter from Lucinda Turner, Assistant Director of Planning & Regeneration at the Mayor’s office begins, “The draft Plan aligns itself with the Council’s key priorities to tackle the climate crisis, to fight inequality and to create good jobs and growth. These objectives link well with the Mayor’s
Good Growth Objectives, especially GG6 increasing efficiency and resilience, GG5 growing a good economy and GG1 building strong and inclusive communities. The draft Plan is well structured and reasonably well aligned with the LP2021 in many areas.”
However, she goes onto say that the council proposal to redesignate Green Belt (GB) and MOL raises ‘significant concerns’ and that this could only be done in exceptional circumstances and it ‘strongly advises’ Ealing not to proceed with the redesignation.
It states, “There are no clear benefits discernible as a result of redesignation and in doing so, it would result in a significant loss to London’s GB. It should be noted that where a site performs weakly against some GB criteria, it still performs key GB functions in holding back urban sprawl, assisting in urban regeneration by encouraging the redevelopment of brownfield sites, and stopping towns from merging.”
The letter describes the council’s overview on tall buildings is “overly complex” and criticises the plan for its lack of definitions on what constitutes a tall building. This is something that the Liberal Democrats say that they have challenged the council on. The height recommended by the Mayor’s office for a tall building is 21 metres or above.
The council is urged to take greater regard to the fact that Kew Gardens, 3km south of the centre of Ealing is of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) which is strategically important and that further testing should be undertaken to ensure there is no impact from any planned building.
Ms Turner points out that greater clarity is needed on housing targets and references to ‘affordable rent’ should be clarified as either ‘social rent’ or ‘London Affordable Rent’. More specifics were requested as to the amount of space that would be needed to support industrial uses in the local economy.
MOL has the same status and protections as Green Belt which is that it should not be built on. Liberal Democrats say this is further evidence that Labour wants to concrete over green spaces across the borough as outlined in the draft Local Development Plan (LDP).
Councillor Gary Malcolm said: “The Labour administration in Ealing is continuing with their ill thought-out plans to build on Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) through designating housing blocks at a range of protected land areas across a range of sites. Liberal Democrats believe in the importance of green infrastructure to sustain us over the medium term alongside a framework of buildings for the future and connected communities. We believe that this local plan is damaging to the sustainability of a future Ealing.
“Liberal Democrats are keen to ensure that people across the borough are actively engaged in responding to the Local Development Plan including Gurnell and Warren Farm to conserve green belt and open spaces as well as ensuring that our built environment is appropriate and fit for purpose in the twenty first century. Do email me at gary.malcolm@ealing.gov.uk if you would like us to assist you in this topic.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |