Assets of Community Value

Southall Town Hall Win! – Press Release

30th July 2018

HIGH COURT JUDGE QUASHES EALING COUNCIL’S DECISION TO SELL ICONIC BUILDING – HISTORIC VICTORY FOR LOCAL CAMPAIGNERS TO SAVE SOUTHALL TOWN HALL. On Friday, the 20th July 2018, the SAVE SOUTHALL TOWN HALL CAMPAIGN won a major victory at the Royal Courts of Justice. In an oral judgement, Justice McKenna has ruled that Ealing Council acted unlawfully and unreasonably in their decision to sell the Southall Town Hall, an iconic…

STOP PRESS! WIN FOR SOUTHALL TOWN HALL

We have just received a report from Janpal Singh Basran that campaigners have won their legal case to prevent the sale of Southall Town Hall by Ealing Council. Our congratulations to all the individuals and groups in Southall who have fought hard to preserve this important and well used community asset. Official press release will follow.

20th July 2018

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Lawyers write to Charity Commission

21st June 2018

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Our lawyers Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP have submitted a hard hitting letter (see this link) to the Charity Commission outlining all that is wrong with Ealing Council’s consultation, its proposals for the Victoria Hall Trust and the awful mess it has made of management. We have written to the chief executive and leader of the council to discuss how to move forward through positive dialogue. Pitzhanger Manor and…

Ealing Town Hall. Do we have any alternatives?

15th April 2018

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Julian Bell explained to the General Purposes Committee, (at 2.40 minutes in) why he thinks the deal with Mastcraft to convert the Town Hall into a Boutique Hotel is a good one. Is he right? A boutique hotel is unlikely to bring significant economic benefits to Ealing town centre, or achieve much change to its increasingly down-at-heel character. Anyway the deal apparently allows Mastcraft to convert the whole town hall into…

Victoria Hall Second Consultation

You may have heard that the Council issued a second consultation on the Victoria Hall Trust. The closing date is March 2nd. This move took everyone by surprise as it was not explained how the two consultations relate to one another. Many who had responded to the first consultation contacted Ealing Voice asking whether they should respond again. We therefore contacted the Council to ask them what we should do….

12th February 2018

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Ealing Town Hall – WILL THEY, WON’T THEY?

3rd February 2018

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As the council grows increasingly desperate to save its awful deal to give away our much loved town hall to hotel developer Mastcraft, in exchange for a couple of million pounds to spruce up offices for councillors, there is a new consultation in town. As published in this week’s Ealing Gazette – the Council is now admitting plans to give away the assets of the Victoria Hall Trust, and trying…

Victoria Hall Trust Consultation – FOI LATEST

30th January 2018

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The consultation, which is currently due to finish on 9th February, has already been extended twice by Ealing Council as it struggles to put together and release important information requested under FOI (Freedom of Information). We have now had to raise a complaint about the FOI response and ask that if the outstanding questions are not answered in full by Friday 2nd February then the consultation is extended again. Ealing…

Consultation period extended to Feb 9th

There is a further extension to the Council’s consultation on its planned changes to the Victoria Hall Trust. This follows representations from Ealing Voice that essential information about the Trust’s accounts, the extent of its assets and the proposed terms of their disposal is not in the public domain. The new deadline for comments is now February 9th. It gives the Council more time to assemble the missing information and…

13th January 2018

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Victoria Hall Consultation latest

Feedback to EV is that this is a tricky subject to get your head around. Just what are the grounds for objection? EV has therefore prepared a one page sheet which sets out the case as succinctly as possible, and lists 5 possible reasons to object. Feel free to use any of this material when writing your objection – but bear in mind that it always looks better if you…

3rd January 2018

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Victoria Hall Trust – HAVE YOUR SAY

In 2016 Ealing Council announced a deal to dispose of most of the Town Hall to a private developer to convert into a boutique hotel. The Victoria Hall and Princes Rooms underneath it form part of the deal. The Council would only keep the east wing with the Council Chamber and marriage rooms. The deal was met with much dismay. People said the Council had no right to dispose of…

29th December 2017

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