Local residents save Acton garden

A popular garden in Acton will not become a "monstrous" playground after more than 400 locals complained.

Plans to pave over Friars Place Green and turn it into a playground and bike shed have been scrapped after 416 residents objected to them.

According to documents submitted by developers Catalyst Housing to Ealing Council, the proposed playground and bike shed would have served tower blocks they are building on the neighbouring Friary Park Estate.

The playground and bike shed would be a "temporary" solution, designed to be in place for six years, until a more permanent play area and bike storage facility could be built on the site of the main development.

Proposals for the playground included a climbing frame, various pull up bars and a rope trail and most of the garden's mature trees would have been preserved.

Nevertheless, the plans for the development of Friars Place Green were withdrawn on March 17. It came as many residents voiced their anger at plans to pave over the garden and objected to the potential loss of green, open space. Commenting on the proposals on Ealing Council's website, one resident said: "Disgraceful disregard for the residents of the borough. Appalling out of scale over development on common land. No protection from pollution on site. Monstrous in every way." Another resident pointed out how popular Friars Place Green was with locals and wrote: "The proposal would result in a loss of green space. The proposal and development would remove a well-established and popular community asset that should not be used to offset a lack of amenity space within the redeveloped Friary Park Estate." A third resident said: "Over development in the area calls for more green and open spaces, with tall trees to clean the air. This proposal is unacceptable to convert an existing green and common land into a "private" playground. "The developer should be using the land acquired to build more open space and playground facilities not expand further." Work to regenerate the Friary Park Estate and build several tower blocks containing 990 flats and ranging from three to 24 storeys in height began in March 2021. A spokesperson for Catalyst Housing said: "The teams at Friary Park are continuing to work through all of the valuable feedback provided during the consultations, making sure that this has been taken on board and incorporated wherever possible, without compromising the many benefits of the enhancements. "As part of this reviewing process, we have decided to withdraw our current plan to improve the landscape at Friars Place Green. We will continue to work with Ealing Council to make sure we are delivering high-quality play and outdoor space for local residents. "We remain fully committed to retaining the proposed improvements to outside spaces and amenities, maximising affordable housing delivery and delivering high quality buildings. "These revised proposals will become our planning application, which we submit to Ealing Council for approval."