Following the revelation in recent weeks that Mount Anvil's redevelopment of Friary Park in Acton is 'not financially viable', Cap the Towers asks: "how and when will it become viable?" 

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 build 990 homes was approved by Ealing Council in November 2019.

The Government and other viability assessors have clarified that the unviability stems from the developer seeking a profit of 16.21%, while the planning approval from Ealing Council provides them with less than the required profit.

One way the developers could achieve this is through building more flats on the site for sale overseas and potentially building up to 48-stories high according to Ealing Council's planning permission document. 

CTT says the council then tried to facilitate this at the end of last year by trying to eliminate any references to heights of towers and numbers of apartments from the official description of the development in what was deemed a 'minor change' by the council so it would not have to consult residents.

However within two hours of CTT spokesperson and TV presenter, Sean Fletcher's video going live on YouTube, the plan was withdrawn. 

Still, Ealing Council has previously said: "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." 

Those "other measures" have yet to be disclosed by the council. 

But if they include extra towers or an even greater population at Friary Park, Cap the Towers says the developer faces a big obstacle. 

Public open space

Back in October 2022, Mount Anvil was told by Ealing Council that: "For this development, a total of 43,651 square metres of public open space will be required. 

"The plan shows a total area of 9,585 square metres of public open space."

This shows that the project does not include even a quarter of the public open space that it is required to have. 

CTT says: "They have so crammed the site with towers and other buildings that there is simply not sufficient open space on the site for the projected number of residents to live safely and decently.

"Even as things stand, there will be massive overcrowding at Friary Park as the figures above make clear.

"It remains a mystery as to how Ealing Council could have required the developer to have 43,000 square metres of public open space in their plans but still have granted approval to those plans when the developer could produce only 9,000 square metres: a deficit of approximately 34,000 square metres of public open space."

A similar issue arises over children's play space for the project with the developer only providing 2646 square metres.

Ealing Council had declared: "For a development of this size, a total of 4,590 square metres of dedicated play space would be required."

Mount Anvil has only around half the play space for children that they are required to provide.

Given the discrepancies in open space and in children's play space that exist within the current planning permission, it makes CTT raise the question of how Ealing Council's Planning Committee could ever be expected to approve more flats and a higher population at Friary Park? 

The Friary Park redevelopment is underway but with backlash from Acton residents (credit: Cap the Towers).

CTT adds: "To do that would result in the huge deficiencies of open space and play space becoming even more extreme and ultimately unacceptable. 

"Yet more flats and more people is the only way for Mount Anvil to make their huge scheme financially viable. 

"The developer has reached an impasse."

Ealing Council's planning officer who recommended Mount Anvil's 2022 application to the Planning Committee admitted in his report to the committee that 'the proposed development has demonstrated that it is not able to accommodate policy compliant provision for public open space or play space' and that 'these negative factors do weigh against approval of the application'.

"How could the planning officer who wrote those words, or any of his colleagues, possibly support even greater non-compliance with the rules on open space and play space that would result from any attempt on Mount Anvil's part to build even more flats and more or higher towers at Friary Park.

"The developer, and indeed Ealing Council, cannot but recognise that any further expansion of this already excessive overdevelopment is now impossible," explains CTT.

Despite being heavily critical of the Friary Park redevelopment, CTT admits that it is not against it in principle, but only to the "ever increasing and inappropriate overdevelopment."

CTT says it is ready to engage in conversations with developers and Ealing Council to hopefully reach a compromise which benefits all parties involved.

The group continues: "Cap the Towers is emboldened in seeking such an engagement with the council and the developer by the frequently quoted words of the Council Leader, Peter Mason: 'Communities will be in the driving seat when it comes to regeneration in Ealing.

"'Local communities need to lead the process of change in our borough, not developers.'  

"If Peter Mason is as good as his word, Cap the Towers looks forward to an early invitation to join in discussions with the Council and the developer."

Ealing Council has been approached for a comment.

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