Ealing residents have started a petition to extend the consultation for the Local Plan, believing the current time period to not be long enough for a "meaningful" discussion. 

The current consultation period for the Draft Local Plan is set to end on Wednesday 8th February, having begun on 30th November, but a petition has been launched to extend that time period. 

The petition, which was started by Hayley Austin, has received over 1,800 signatures from fellow residents wanting more time to contribute to the consultation. 

Austin said on the petition: "Ealing Council's local plan will have a direct consequence for all residents, businesses and visitors, creating 'Frankenstein Urbanism' in West London. 

"We believe that the consultation process has not been adequate because: 

"The Council has not made sufficient efforts to engage with residents or businesses to ensure that residents and businesses are able to actively participate in decisions 

"The Council has not given adequate time for this consultation with a restricted consultation period 30th November 2022 to February 8th 2023. 

"The council have not letter dropped all residents and businesses of the Borough and have failed to educate on a 500-page consultation document 

"It is very important that local residents and businesses are made aware of the existence of this plan, the potential impact of this plan and have time to formulate a meaningful response to the plan. 

"We the people have not been consulted upon for the development of the initial proposal, regulation 18.  

"We the people are the community. We the people are being viewed as receivers of outcomes, whilst we are the producers of outcomes.  

"Ealing Council is doing to us and not with us and it is a recipe to create intended consequences that will affect all our rights and freedoms. 

"We require a full and compliant response to this public petition with full disclosure in accordance with this Data Access request, as required under Article 12 of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and under the Freedom of Information Act 2014, for which Ealing Council have a maximum of 30 days to respond." 

The petition is targeting 2,500 signatures and it is over 70% of the way to achieving this goal after a matter of days. 

Beth Gregory commented: "The size of this consultation is impenetrable for most residents. It is very hard to find the time to read it all and process the many significant impacts it will have on the wellbeing of everyone in the borough.  

"It is a very unfair way to treat people. This is a huge proposition and yet the vast majority will either be unaware of its existence or be unable to make a considered contribution.  

"Please hold workshops at times working people can attend and make a genuine effort to involve communities in shaping their future surroundings."