Forum Topic

sale of Ealing Town Hall and move of central Library

If you look at the Ealing Gazette, you will have seen that the Council are minded to sell most of the Town Hall to make a hotel, to demolish Perceval House and to move the Central Library out of its present location in the Broadway centre. What do people think? My instinct is to resist the removal of listed buildings from public ownership if possible. I think High Streets benefit from keeping their older buildings. But maybe I'm just a traditionalist. Be interested to hear your views.

Maire Lowe ● 4320d11 Comments

I agree with you Marie, we should keep our older buildings, especially if it has architectural merit and I think the old Ealing Town Hall is(or should be) a listed building. Perceval Palace could(should)be demolished imo.

Gerry Tan ● 4320d

Why is it that some have no respect for our heritage?  This beautiful building should remain and be used at it was meant to be, as Ealing Town Hall, not sold off to the highest bidder. Why not sell Perceval House, or demolish it and spend the money doing any necesssry repairs to the Town Hall? I presume money will be saved by reducing staff numbers and the remaining staff could relocate to the Town Hall.It seems the whole idea nowadays is for councils to sell our heritage to the highest bidder. I think the idea is for the Town Hall to just be part of the Dickens Yard development, if it was turned into housing you can bet your bottom dollar that Ealing residents would not be able to afford to live there!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4320d

It's not long since the library had a long, and presumably expensive, overhaul. It's horribly common for councils to spend money renovating places and then close them shortly after.

Susan Kelly ● 4320d

According to this Gazette, the refurbishment of the Central Library cost 3.5 million. Don't s it matter?

Maire Lowe ● 4320d

It's not their own money so they spend like there is no tomorrow!All councils are the same.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4320d

It's not their money, could this be the reason?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4320d

The Town Hall is not being sold. There is a proposal to explore further the possibility of leasing part of the building to a developer in order to pay for the upkeep and refurbishment of the main public areas.Similarly for the library, where any move would be financed by the owners of the Ealing Broadway centre.

Pete Grist ● 4319d

Surely it makes more sense to use the Town Hall instead of Perceval House and raise money from the sale of Perceval House.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4319d

Thank you Pete. Interesting. Could you kindly explain 'lease' in this context? The Council want to 'lease' Warren Farm to QPR for 300 years. The Commmunity around the site don't get the difference between sale and lease. We'd all be grateful for an explanation of the proposed 'lease' of the Grade Two listed Town Hall to a property developer.

Maire Lowe ● 4319d

I only know what is in the cabinet paper (quoted below). All that has been decided is to spend more time developing the idea and looking for a potential developer, so nothing has been decided yet. "Ealing Town Hall is an existing asset owned by the council. The proposal is for for disposal on a long lease of part of the Town Hall to enable the refurbishment of the civic and community space."

Pete Grist ● 4319d

Thank you. Who would be the best person to ask for an explanation of the difference between 'outright sale' and 'lease' in this proposed deal?

Maire Lowe ● 4319d