Acton campaign group, Cap the Towers, says it has found evidence that Ealing Council and developers are trying to keep 'secret' a detail within the plans over the true height of the Friary Park project.

Cap the Towers (CTT) has been investigating Ealing Council's handling of the Friary Park redevelopment by Mount Anvil since the initial planning application to launch the project was approved by the Council in November 2019.

A second application to build a seventh tower and increase the number of apartments from 990 to 1228 was approved in October 2022. 

On both occasions, the Planning Committee of the council were made aware that Mount Anvil plans were 'not financially viable' but they still proceeded to approve the plans. 

Previously, a council spokesperson told Nub News: "A financial viability assessment is used to demonstrate that a proposed development includes the maximum amount of affordable housing, which is not only a planning policy requirement, but also a key objective for the council.  

"In the case of the 2019 application, the development included proposals for a high number affordable housing which resulted in it being considered unviable, however, the applicant advised that through further grant funding and other measures the viability position would improve. 

"As advised and anticipated by the applicant, financial viability concerns were addressed through further funding, leading to commencement of the scheme."  

Despite this, Cap the Towers believe that Case Officer from the Planning Department, Chris Maltby, lied to Councillor Sanjai Kholi's question on financial viability by saying the scheme was profitable back in 2019.

Cllr Kholi asked Maltby: "My question was basically targeted towards...was the original planning, which was consented, was it viable in terms of profitability."  

Maltby replied: "Yes councillor, it was."      

The campaign group argue that had the cllr been given a truthful answer, he and his fellow cllrs may well have voted differently. 

The Leader of the Council, Peter Mason, has been provided with a clip from the October 2022 planning meeting of what Maltby said which resulted in the Planning Committee being 'misled'. 

Cllr Mason has yet to respond. 

When Ealing Nub News asked CTT how it knows whether Mount Anvil and Ealing Council are planning to build more flats and towers, CTT said: "Because last December, we found out that the Council and the developer were working on an amendment to the Friary Park planning permission to remove any reference to a, the heights of buildings and b, the total number of apartments from the official description of the development."

In the video from the Acton group in December 2023, CTT spokesperson and TV presenter, Sean Fletcher says the council and Mount Anvil were working together to "change the planning permission by removing all reference to the heights of buildings."

After the video was posted, the proposal to remove any rules about heights of buildings and number of homes at Friary Park, had been officially withdrawn from the council's website.

CTT says its "researchers have discovered, hidden deep within the planning permission documents for Friary Park, this extraordinary sentence: 'No building or structure of the development hereby permitted shall exceed 167.95 metres AOD'."

"That's the equivalent of 48 floors. Exactly twice the height of the tallest tower that they have permission for at the moment, the one that's just been completed."

CTT adds: "But, crucially the Planning Committee, the councillors who make the decisions about whether particular planning applications should be accepted or rejected, have never discussed or authorised the possibility of 48 floor towers at Friary Park.

"Councillors generally are unaware of it. Residents of Acton have never been consulted about it. The whole process has been blatantly undemocratic."

A computer generated image from Cap the Towers if Ealing Council and developers were to increase the height of the Friary Park Development (credit: Cap the Towers).

The campaign group now says it will be looking into if the Friary Park development has the possibility of becoming financially viable in the future or not.

Ealing Council has been approached for comment.   

Cap the Towers is a resident campaigning group in Acton with concerns about financial viability of the Friary Park housing development which is underway near Acton Main Line station. 

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