Ealing Council's Local Plan 'Makes Net Zero Impossible'

Claim that building tower blocks will see borough population surge by 88,000

Building tall towers in the borough boosts CO2 emissions says FOE

April 10, 2024

With the deadline looming to make comments on Ealing Council’s local plan, Friends of the Earth Ealing (FOE) is saying that, if implemented, it will make reaching Net Zero in the borough impossible.

The council is asking residents to give their opinion on its final version of the plan, which will set the borough’s planning framework well into the next decade, by Wednesday 10 April.

For a plan to be adopted it must pass a serious of legal tests including that it is consistent with achieving sustainable development and alternative strategies have been considered.

FOE says that there is a fundamental flaw in the plan because it envisages accommodating the massive increase in the borough’s population up to 2038 mainly in tower blocks.

The group says that the climate impact of this sort of construction is much greater than low level development or renovating property and it will make it impossible for Ealing Borough to meet its Net Zero target.

The Local Plan anticipates that 43,000 extra housing units and much of these will be in tall buildings. However, the Greens say that these new builds will not match with the pattern of demand which is for more affordable housing and that the majority will be marketed to overseas investors for renting out at high levels.

According to an estimate by FOE, the local population is expected to increase by 88,000 by 2038 the equivalent of the number of people who currently live in St Albans or Harrogate with the rise generated by the increased number of people living in the borough . The calculations behind this estimate have been published here.

FOE says that everyone in the borough will be affected if the council proceeds with its local plan, not just those living in proximity to newly built tower blocks, adding, “The borough of Ealing is already over-crowded. Hospitals and doctors’ surgeries are stretched to breaking point. Public transport is over-crowded; roads are congested and polluted. Green open space is threatened by de-designation and building. Electricity and water supplies are under severe pressure. Sewage is regularly discharged into our waterways.

“Customers’ bills for services such as water will rocket, but not just to cover the cost of their own services. Customers will have to pay for, i.e. subsidise, capital expenditure for services to all the new flats.

“As for action on climate change and achieving the council’s stated aim of ‘Net Zero’ – forget it! Building tower blocks causes far more CO2 emissions than conventional low rise and renovations.”

The group is urging people to respond to the consultation on the local plan, even after the stated closing date of 10 April, as well as contacting local councillors and to asking whether they support this version of the Local Plan and its vision for Ealing Borough.

A spokesperson for Ealing Council said, “We hope these projections and the basis for them has been fed back as part of the consultation, where they will be considered appropriately.”