Was adequate attention given to Fire Safety at the Planning Committee?We think 4 and 6 Portal Way were pushed through planning so quickly was because they do not meet certain requirements in the London Plan which is set to go live in March. We know Ealing has always let developers walk all over them when it comes to the provision of social housing in large developments, but safety is a completely different ball game.We don’t think the councillors were made aware of the safety issues for the individual development or considered the overall density when all the developments were finished or had bothered to find out for themselves.https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/london-plan/new-london-plan/intend-publish-london-plan-2019Gipsy Corner Roundabout1 Portal Way - 1.64h, 760 units, 1,910 persons, 32 storeys2 Portal Way – 0.37h, 380 units, 950 persons, 25 and 35 storeys plus 2 floors of commercial kitchens4 Portal Way – 0.39h, 702 units, 1,755 persons, 55 and 45 storeys plus hotel 157 rooms5 Portal Way - 0.5h, Algerian Embassy with large car park6 Portal Way – 0.57h, 701 units, 1,754 persons, 54 and 58 storeysTOTAL 6,639 Residents plus hotel guests and staff, Embassy staff and employees in the industrial kitchens at No.2The London Plan 2020 requires a Fire Strategy to be part of planning applications, not one of these residential developments have provided a Fire Strategy which complies with the 2020 Plan and in the wake of Grenfell no developments should be given approval until the Fire Strategy is robust.There is one small, one-way private access road, a dead end, serving all developments on this roundabout of 3.4 hectares, for ALL coaches, taxis, private vehicles, delivery and service vehicles servicing the hotel, Embassy, Industrial Kitchens and Residential Towers.All Emergency Service vehicles will have to share this road.To evacuate a building on this roundabout, the A40, Victoria Road or Wales Farm Road must be crossed, some 50,884 traffic movements a day, as there is no space on the roundabout. And when you have crossed one of these roads, there is no land available in the area for a meeting point of even 100 people. Not a single development has identified an outside space.Should there be a bomb scare or a fire in a Tower, where will persons evacuate? The Fire Safety Officers reports that people should stay put in their flats, post Grenfell is this an option people would obey? If there is a bomb scare staying put is not an optionLondon Plan Policy D12 Fire safetyA. In the interests of fire safety and to ensure the safety of all building users, all development proposals must achieve the highest standards of fire safety and ensure that they:1) identify suitably positioned unobstructed outside space:a) for fire appliances to be positioned onb) appropriate for use as an evacuation assembly point2) are designed to incorporate appropriate features which reduce the risk to life and the risk of serious injury in the event of a fire.Neither 4 or 6 Portal Way complyWe suggest you write and/or email the councillors who sat on the committee and ask what their reasons were for passing this application:Ahmed, Anand, Ball, Mahmood, Manro (Chair), Martin, Raza, Rice, R Wall, L Wall, Woodroofe. A file of all their contact details is available on Ealing Matters FB Page - Files
Libby Kemp ● 2174d