| Topic: | Re:Waitrose site should kick start the building of housing in West Ealing | |
| Posted by: | Simon Hayes | |
| Date/Time: | 28/05/25 11:46:00 |
| Hmmmm, lots of reasons why things aren’t being built. Deans Gardens will have to be demolished as the original contractor went bust and any new developer won’t risk taking on a half built structure that potentially has lots of problems. Gurnell is an LBE development, through its Broadway Living arm (funded by a £400m loan underwritten by Ealing taxpayers). Given the track record of that operation Gurnell is likely to turn into a money pit. Don’t expect partner developers to be rushing to put their cash in. Orion Park. Anyone’s guess. If you wonder why nothing is built when planning is granted years before consider that developers expect to make a minimum 25 percent profit on any new builds. That’s why social housing is cut and cut. None at all at the John Lewis site and only 19 percent “affordable” (50 percent in the original planning application). There are 300,000 planning consents already granted across London that remain unbuilt. Ask yourself why. Ealing is incompetent when it comes to planning. Inappropriate high rise development in traditional low rise residential areas goes through because no monitoring reports are done to show how much has already been built/approved/begun. Nobody accepts responsibility at the council for failing to complete these legally required documents and the cabinet portfolio holder appears to be way out of his depth. They refused to even put the John Lewis scheme to committee, yet if you want to add an extension to your house you have to jump through every hoop. Why is that I wonder? |