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Campaigners challenge Ealing’s bid to remove protections from parks

Alice Roberts
By Alice Roberts
26th January 2023

CPRE London has expressed deep concern at Ealing Council’s proposals to remove protections from seven large green spaces in the borough.

Metropolitan Open Land sites, which have the same level of protection as Green Belt, including Acton Park shown here, will lose their protection completely if residents don’t act. The full list of sites which are set to lose their protection are:

  • MOL2 Former Kellogg Tower / Grove Farm / Ealing Northern Sports Centre
  • MOL5 Greenford Cemetery & Windmill Lane Allotments
  • MOL13 Trailfinders
  • MOL18 Gunnersbury Sports Grounds/ Old Actonians
  • MOL20 Hanger Hill Park & former Barclays Sports Ground
  • MOL22 Twyford Abbey (already under threat from a planning application)
  • MOL23 Acton Park, Sports Grounds and Trinity Way
  • The council also proposes removing MOL protection from Norwood Green Play Park and the land north of Norwood Green Road

Site Allocation NO02 also puts forward proposals to build over local park Mandeville Parkway.

How to make your voice heard!

The consultation is now closed, but you can still contact your local councillor and ask for a meeting to explain why you believe the proposals to change and remove Green Belt and MOL protections should be deleted from the Local Plan.

Without MOL (Metropolitan Open Land) protection, nothing is stopping these sites from being built over in the future: these sites will be vulnerable to being lost in part or in whole, even thought they provide crucially important opportunities for recreation and sports and habitat for wildlife.

The sites under threat are shown in the map below. The dark blue sites in the map on the right are set to lose their protection.

CPRE London is also challenging Ealing Council’s proposals to change the designation of all its Green Belt sites – and to remove the designation entirely from one of its Green Belt sites.

  • To see the detail, click here then open the file called Appendix 3 Atlas of Change and go to page 3. Confusingly, although this document says it gives an ‘Explanation of proposed changes’ for each site – you actually have to go to the Green Belt and MOL Review document to understand why the council is proposing to remove the protections. However, their explanation is long and complex and we have tried to summarise why we do not believe these changes are justified, in our own Ealing Local Plan Reg18 consulation response where we have also included comments on each of the specific sites at Appendix 2.

    • The ‘Atlas of Change’ document (mentioned above) also has a large number of maps of smaller sites which also show proposed ‘deletions’ – where they are proposing to remove protections. At least one of these (Map 41 – MOL8 – Removal of Norwood Green Play Park and land north of Norwood Green Road) is also likely to be of concern to local residents.

Contact alice@cprelondon.org.uk if you would like to join a group of local residents campaigning against the loss of protection for these parks and green spaces in Ealing.