We are very pleased that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has called in the planning application for 9-42 The Broadway W5 – a highly significant development given that fewer than a dozen such cases arise each year. This means that there will be a local planning inquiry, in May 2017, in front of an independent inspector appointed by the Secretary of State to consider all the issues afresh. Save Ealing’s Centre, to which the Society is affiliated, has been granted official participant (Rule 6) status and will be taking a full part in the public inquiry. More information may be found at SEC’s website.
We hope that the outcome will be similar to that for another planning application for the site, also subject to a planning inquiry in 2009, where the Secretary of State found that the proposed development would have been highly dominant and overbearing as well as out of character with the largely Victorian/Edwardian town centre. The developers, Glenkerrin Ltd, subsequently went bust in the recession and the land was acquired by the current owners, Benson Elliot, working in conjunction with developers Londonewcastle.