A BROAD coalition of people including numerous community groups and Ealing Central and Acton MP, Rupa Huq, have criticised the decision to hold a third planning committee meeting to approve the Perceval House redevelopment next week.

The meeting, which is now set to take place on March 31, will be held during the local pre-election (purdah) period.

This comes following last week's announcement that the decision taken by the planning committee at the virtual meeting on March 10 cannot stand.

Ealing Council's monitoring officer advised the chair of the planning committee that interruptions to the live stream, which included part of the debate and the vote, meant that the vote should not have taken place.

This was already the second meeting, following the decision on February 17 to defer, and was deemed as an emergency meeting to occur before the pre-election period.

The Labour MP has previously questioned the 'indecent haste' and 'completely unprecedented rush' to approve the redevelopment, which would see 477 new homes built across seven blocks, including one 26-storeys tall.

Dr Huq said: "Moving forward with yet another planning meeting, the third in almost as many weeks, during an election campaign is illogical and smacks of an attempt to ram through a controversial proposal with limited scrutiny.

"The process needs to be far more transparent than it currently is.

"I have received previous correspondence from council officers who have suggested it would not be possible to hold another meeting after March 22.

"As soon as rumours circulated, I pleaded with council bureaucrats that the vote must be pushed back after the election season when with both occupants of City Hall and Ealing Broadway council ward both to be decided - at least one set to undergo change.

"The proposal is huge in scale – 477 households – and does not deliver the genuinely affordable housing that working families in Ealing are in desperate need of."

Her words were echoed by the chair of Save Ealing's Centre, Will French, who criticised the 'completely unprecedented rush' and described the move as 'pretty desperate.'

The Stop the Towers group have also been vocal and voiced fear at the creation of a socially cleansed 'skyscraper ghetto.'

Ealing Civic Society has also spoken out against the redevelopment proposals.

A spokesperson for the organisation said: "Community groups (of which we are one) are now considering what further steps to take to ensure this decision is first reviewed by the Greater London Assembly and then, hopefully, called in for determination by the Secretary of State.

"Looking beyond the decision of the committee on the application, the way in which this application has been handled throughout has been widely criticised, starting with the form of public consultation and lack of response to feedback, through to the Council's handling of the application and a number of aspects of the conduct of the planning committees."

The Council has said it is possible to hold the meeting in the purdah period as it isn't a political issue.

It has also guaranteed measures have been taken to avoid a repeat of the technical issues that blighted the second vote earlier this month.