Change Town Centre Plan Brief, Urge Lib Dems

10.44.56pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 28th Oct 2005

How Dickens Yard appears now

Lib Dems say none of the plans submitted for Dickens Yard, designed to be the next stage of the Ealing Town Centre development, fully meet the need for a viable, attractive scheme to regenerate the area.

So says the response by Ealing Liberal Democrats to the public consultation on the four short-listed proposals. The submission for the Ealing Borough Lib Dems by Tony Miller , Chair of its Co-ordinating Committee, calls for improvements to the brief given by the Council to the developers, and for it to include better instructions on the balance needed between community and commercial use.

There are some major defects in the brief, says Tony, notably on how to deal with traffic and pedestrian access. The report says the Council's traffic planning objectives will be difficult to achieve with any of the schemes, and impossible if the West London tram goes ahead.

"It is clear that all the developers have been heavily influenced by the requirement of the Council for them to pay a significant premium", says Mr Miller. The consequence is an excessive density of shops, offices and housing to pay for this.

The real return to the community should be measured in terms of amenity as much as cash, the report urges. Lib Dems believe the choice of developer should not be weighted by considerations of the immediate financial gain to the Council; the long-term benefit with an emphasis on quality and community use should take precedence.

Related Link:

Full text of submission to Ealing Council.