Liberal Democrat Councillor Jon Ball, opposition spokesperson on planning, licensing and housing raised a motion to save Victoria Hall but shortly after he spoke the Labour party used a technical procedure to stop the motion from continuing.

This meant that no vote was taken on whether the Council's plan for an Ealing Town Hall hotel affecting Victoria Hall should be stopped after it had been revealed that the scheme so far had cost the authority more than £3 million.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Jon Ball, opposition spokesperson on planning, licensing and housing said: "Liberal Democrats say that Labour members of the cabinet are forever lecturing us about the dire state of the Council's finances.

"The three million pounds that Labour has wasted on its doomed scheme to turn this Town Hall into a hotel, could have been spent on free school meals for all the borough's school children across the summer holidays, to pay to plant twelve thousand trees in our streets.

"Or it could pay to rent a room for every single person sleeping rough on Ealing's streets for a year.

"Liberal Democrats say that Ealing Labour should scrap the scheme and retain Victoria Hall as an available and affordable venue for local community groups and residents."

The proposed motion read:

Council notes that almost £3m has been spent on the Ealing Town Hall hotel scheme to date excluding indemnity liability and considerable lost bookings revenue.

Council recommends that Cabinet cancels the Town Hall scheme.

Council believes:

• 1.    That a future scheme for Ealing Town Hall should be community led rather than developer led.
• 2.    That the council should create a genuinely independent Victoria Hall Trust, with the majority of members being non-councillors, which will determine the future use of the Victoria Hall.
• 3.    That it is important to maintain the ability for community organisations and residents to make bookings at affordable costs in a range of rooms within both Victoria Hall Trust and Council-owned parts of the Town Hall.