Local Plan Consultation Inadequate Says Opposition

Ealing Lib Dems claim council failed to include disabled groups

Councillor Athena Zissimos addresses her question at the recent council meeting

April 27, 2023

Ealing Council’s controversial Draft Local Plan came in for further criticism recently with the Liberal Democrat opposition claiming the consultation had been mishandled.

The issue was raised during a full council meeting held on Tuesday 25 April when Councillor Athena Zissimos, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Environment requested move information on which disability charities have been consulted.

She claimed that a number of key local organisations such as Age UK, Dementia Concern, Middlesex Association for the Blind and Deaf Plus were not surveyed on their views. She said she had been told this was the case by some of the Trustees of these charities and that the council has not been able to provide a list of which groups were asked their views.

The plan, which sets development priorities in the borough for the next fifteen years, envisages the redesignation of Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land allowing for building on green space. The proposal has met with across the board criticism including from the Mayor’s Office which said that Ealing should be considering the development of brownfield sites first.

The portfolio holder responded to Cllr Zissimos’s question by saying it was impossible for the council to reach everyone but conceding that, “We can always do more.”

Cllr Zissimos said, “Liberal Democrats say that this was a demonstration of a ‘smoke and mirrors’ approach employed by Labour whilst trumpeting of values of openness and transparency. Labour often do the bare minimum rather than seeking to consult far and wide on these important issues. It is the Liberal Democrats who are listening to the communities across Ealing.

“There has been significant local resistance to the draft Local Plan with many groups (including disability groups) feeling that they have not been consulted. The current draft plan is a charter for concreting over green belt and metropolitan open land across the borough. In addition, it throws up questions of this administration’s commitment to being carbon neutral by 2030 – another phrase often repeated but not translated into demonstrable actions especially when they wish to dewild Warren Farm and the countless number of endangered species which rely on this habitat.”

We have approached Ealing Council for comment.