Council Asked to Give More Protection to Green Spaces in Acton
Sites believed to be under threat from development
St Dunstan's Gardens in Acton
July 8, 2023
Ealing Council is being urged to give extra protection to three local triangular greens (St Dunstan’s Gardens, Friars Gardens and Friars Place Green) to ensure they are never built on.
The Friends of Friars Gardens has requested that all three sites be redesignated as Local Green Space (LGS) in Ealing Council’s Local Plan, providing extra protection from development.
St Dunstan’s Gardens and Friars Place Greenll have recently been under potential threat of being built on. Last year, an application to construct a care home on St Dunstan’s Gardens was blocked.
LGS can be designated by the council and, once it is in place, it is subject to the same strong development restrictions as Green Belt, ruling out any development except in special circumstances.
To gain this status it must be shown that an area is ‘demonstrably special’ which can be achieved by testimonials from local people explaining the importance of their local park to them.
Friars Gardens in Acton
The three sites are in the Acton Central ward which has less than 0.86 hectares of green space per 1,000 of the population, one of the lowest rates in the borough.
Friars Place Green
So far, the group have collected 214 statements from residents using a digital survey and a leaflet drop is planned in the next couple of weeks to encourage more people to respond.
‘The designation of Local Green Space is not widely used in London boroughs, but it should be,’ says Juliet McDonald, co-founder of Friends of Friars Gardens. ‘As the council are currently discussing their 15-year local plan, now is the time for them to give these greens the protection they deserve. Any refusal to do so would put their ecological ambitions in doubt.’
The survey takes less than two minutes and there are only two short questions.
Click here to participate in the survey.
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