LATEST UPDATE – 18 May 2020
Planning Application updateThe planning application has now been submitted by the developer (EcoWorld) to Ealing Council's planning team. We expect it to be available for public comment by Friday 22nd May or shortly afterwards (according to David Scourfield, Chief Planning Officer).
Consultation periods have been extended from 21 to 42 days. Once the application is live and we have reviewed the application, we'll be providing some guidance on making effective objections. The guidance will be posted on our ''How to Object'' page.
Previous updates:
Update from 10 November 2019
There has been a SIGNIFICANT change to the deal structure between Ealing Council and the developer (Ecoworld).
Ecoworld have walked away from the leisure centre and affordable housing build– the council must now find another company to deliver these.
Planning Application updateThe planning application has now been submitted by the developer (EcoWorld) to Ealing Council's planning team. We expect it to be available for public comment by Friday 22nd May or shortly afterwards (according to David Scourfield, Chief Planning Officer).
Consultation periods have been extended from 21 to 42 days. Once the application is live and we have reviewed the application, we'll be providing some guidance on making effective objections. The guidance will be posted on our ''How to Object'' page.
Previous updates:
Update from 10 November 2019
- The developer (Ecoworld) has walked away from the leisure centre and affordable housing build which leaves the Council with the responsibility to deliver these and take on the associated risks.
- Financial information that was previously available has now disappeared - we don’t know how much the Council are receiving for selling off our land or the size of the shortfall that must be met by public funding.
- The council had all this information before the last consultation (September 2019) however they decided not to tell us.
There has been a SIGNIFICANT change to the deal structure between Ealing Council and the developer (Ecoworld).
Ecoworld have walked away from the leisure centre and affordable housing build– the council must now find another company to deliver these.
Summary of the current and previous deal structure:
When did this happen?
- The Gurnell redevelopment was discussed at a Cabinet meeting on 17th September – just 8 days before the consultation meeting on 25th September, however none of this was mentioned to the public.
- Now that the developer has walked away from the leisure centre and affordable housing build– the council must find another company to deliver these.
- The developer was going to pay the council £25.2m for this piece of land but it is now unclear ow much the council are receiving - this information was left out of the September 2019 consultation. Assumption is that the contribution hasdecreased,therefore widening the funding gap over and above the £12.5m already budgeted to cover the £37.7m cost of the new centre.
- Council are taking on direct delivery responsibility for the leisure centre build and the associated risk– under the previous deal, the build was fixed cost and the developer carried the risk.
- Leisure Centre build cost could increase above the £37.7m estimate and the council have no budget for this - it could be in the millions.
- The council will have a dependency on Ecoworld to build the basement across the site and if this is delayed then the leisure centre will be closed for longer than planned.
- There is a risk that the council run out of money and reduce the facility mix or specification of the leisure centre.
- There is a risk that the leisure centre is demolished and delayed past 3 years or never rebuilt.
Is there anything else we didn’t know?
- The council has already spent at least £1.34mon the pre planning activities, £3mhas been spent in total but unclear how much over the agreed £1.34m has been incurred.
- The council plan to use £10m of GLA grant to fund the affordable housing. Therefore, the 400 residential units being built by the developer do not contribute to this in any way.
- This reason this project has been delayed is because the council keep submitting plans that the GLA which they do not approve. In fact, the last proposal did not include any affordable housing and it’s the GLA who have told the council that this must be included – so it’s clear that the council were willing to build 600 residential units with 0% affordable housing.
- Despite these changes, the entire proposal will be submitted under one planning application.