Ealing Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee are set to discuss the Warren Farm development at a meeting on Tuesday 21st February. 

Following Ealing Council cabinet having voted through the proposal to de-wild half of Warren Farm in order to build a sports facility on 25th January, leader of the opposition, Gary Malcolm, called a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to discuss the decision, and this meeting is set to come tonight. 

This committee is made up of backbenchers in the cabinet who are not part of the cabinet and they can discuss proposals and submit formal reports to be sent to the cabinet for further discussion, but they cannot decide upon policies themselves. 

As we stand ahead of this meeting, the cabinet accepted the proposal to give Local Nature Reserve status for around half of the site and a sports facility will be built on the other half, likely to be used by Southall FC. 

This plan has been very controversial in the local community, and campaigners have been attempting to fight all plans to develop Warren Farm due to the biodiversity of the site and the endangered species, such as skylarks, who have proven to only live there. 

The local Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, and Green Party have all opposed this plan, as well as a group of wildlife presenters, and member of the House of Lords, Baroness Jenny Jones. 

A petition to stop the development of Warren Farm has received over 19,000 signatures, and over 4,000 of these have come since the decision was taken by the cabinet last month. 

Warren Farm Nature Reserve have planned a protest outside Ealing Town Hall ahead of the scrutiny committee meeting to show their discontent with the initial decision from Ealing Council to pass this plan. 

These campaigners and the Brent River & Canal Society will be bringing expert witnesses to the meeting to challenge the council's case, which they have previously accused of using misleading information as part of their justification. 

We will have to wait and see on the outcome of this meeting to see if the cabinet will be made to have a second meeting over the Warren Farm project.