Deadline for comment on Gurnell planning application extended – EALING.NEWS – The Voice of Ealing 7 towns

Residents in the borough now have until June 26, 2024 to submit their comments on Ealing Council’s planning application to build a sports facility at Gurnell Leisure Centre, as well as provide 295 new homes on the site.

Previously, the deadline to express views on its application was due to close on June 18, 2024, but following confusion over the deadline for submitting comments, the council extended it.

A spokesman for Ealing Council told EALING.NEWS: “Anyone wishing to comment on the Gurnell Masterplan can do so until June 26. The date has been extended slightly to ensure consistency with emails, letters and site notices for all respondents, giving them the same amount of time to comment on the plans for Gurnell if they wish.

“The Ealing.gov website will be updated in line with this date.”

Since publishing details of its plans for Gurnell on 21 May 2024, residents and campaigners have raised concerns about what they call “inappropriate development on conservation land and the dangerous precedent it will set”, which was designed by architects Mikhail Riches.

The latest planning application comes three years after the original planning application for Gurnell was refused in May 2021.

Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) chairman Phil Belman said of the plans: “We stand with the residents who want to see the Gurnell Leisure Center brought back into operation. The pool is sorely missed and it is important for health and well-being to reopen what was once a well-used facility. However, we must be realistic about this last proposition. Building houses and flats on the Brent floodplain in Brent River Park is unwise.”

Belman added: “These new homes will be at significant risk of flooding as soon as they are built. In addition, they will increase the risk to properties and homes nearby and further along the River Brent. We know that climate change is already producing more flash floods. Ealing Council should be trying to reduce the amount of people living near our river, not increase it.

While Ealing Green Party chairman Neil Reynolds said: “This application, if accepted in its current form, would set a precedent allowing Labor to concrete over the borough’s green spaces.”

Residents now have until 26 June 2024 to submit their comments on the planning application for the site, which was closed in March 2020 by Ealing Council due to Covid-19.

Steven Toft, BRCS Administrator added: “The housing development is proposed on metropolitan open land and public open space, both of which are protected by national, London-wide and local policies. This proposal also goes against Ealing Council’s own policies. The council rightly refused ‘in principle’ a public open space development in Acton in 2022. Surely the same principle applies to Gurnell.”

Under the new plans, ten buildings of up to 10 storeys will provide 295 homes across the development. Its previous planning application said it would build more than 600 homes on the site, with buildings of up to 17 storeys.

In a statement, Councilor Peter Mason, leader of Ealing Council, said: “We want a destination leisure center that serves residents, families and the next generation of sporting champions. This radically different masterplan reflects that vision.”

He added: “We have listened to feedback from residents, sports groups and users of the center about their objections to the first failed planning application. The new plan reflects and responds to previous concerns about the height and number of residential units.”

The council has previously said that if its planning application is approved, work will start in the summer of 2025 and the new leisure center will open in 2027.

As of 17 May 2024, of 323 comments submitted, 97 support and 222 oppose the planning application.

One resident said of the plans: “I would rather there was no building on the MOL, but I think the need for a new leisure center and additional housing outweighs that concern. I therefore support this proposal.”

Another resident backing the plans commented: “There is a desperate need for new housing and leisure facilities in Hanwell. Hurry up and build this. It would be great to have somewhere to take my kids swimming in the local area.”

Among the objections, one resident said: “We need green open spaces more than ever and this is setting a very dangerous precedent by building on the MOL. A larger footprint than previous abandoned schemes. Ten blocks of flats near the mostly residential housing area, the proposal is extremely different from the area. Destruction of 153 mature trees and damage to local wildlife. 30 parking spaces for 300 apartments! Residents a certain distance around will not be able to park.

“Ultimately this does not meet the housing needs of Ealing. We need family housing, and this only proposes 26 3-bed apartments. We are already about to suffer 400 student units at West Ealing. Build some decent houses to fund the new leisure center which has been shamefully left to fall into disrepair.”

Local campaign group Save Gurnell highlighted its concerns about the new planning application: “While we support the redevelopment of the leisure centre, we remain extremely concerned about the inappropriate development of conservation land and the dangerous precedent it will set.”

Save Gurnell added: “We also wanted to point out that, in parallel with this application, the council is seeking to remove the Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) designation of this site and others – the Mayor of London has raised concerns about These changes. If approved, this site and other green spaces in the borough could be developed without such strict planning constraints and more of our much-needed green spaces could be lost forever.”

He highlighted a number of areas for objection:

• The planned housing is an inappropriate development on protected metropolitan open land (MOL) – the plans have a larger footprint than the previous scheme and encroach on more parkland.
• Environmental impact including increased pollution, significant loss of mature trees (153 in total) and impact on local wildlife
• Increased traffic and inadequate parking (30 spaces for approximately 295 units)
• Shading – loss of daylight and sunlight (Peal Gardens, Ruislip Road East and the park itself)
• Loss of visual comfort (but not loss of private view)
• The development is commanding, out of scale and character in its appearance
• The size, scale and density of the housing development is excessive for this site
• The amount of affordable housing (35%) is well below strategic targets – it should be 50% on public sector land
• The housing mix does not meet the needs of the district – the vast majority one and two bed properties with only 26 three bed units
• Failure to comply with local, regional and national planning policy

Speaking to EALING.NEWS about the new proposals for Gurnell, Ealing Green Party chairman Neil Reynolds said: “Hanwell, Ealing, Greenford and Perivale are in desperate need of a leisure center after the Labor Council closed Gurnell and it is very need new houses. However, this application, if accepted in its current form, would set a precedent allowing Labor to concrete over the borough’s green spaces. The proportion of family property is also disappointingly low. A rethink is needed.”

Ealing residents can submit their comments on the planning application by clicking here.