By Gabriela Wyszynska, Local Democracy Reporter.
Ealing Council has been ruled at fault by the Local Government Ombudsman in failure to produce a report on the development of its Local Plan for the past six years.
Responding to a complaint by a member of the group Ealing Matters, the LGO ruled that Ealing Council did not fulfil its statutory duty to publish an Authority Monitoring Report (AMR). The AMR forms a part of Ealing’s Local Plan, a suite of documents that outline the long-term planning strategy for the borough. The time frame for Local Plans is from 10 to 15 years, however, boroughs are obliged to review and update them at least annually through the AMRs.
The last published AMR covered the years 2013 and 2014 and individual residents have been asking the Council to publish the missing AMRs since 2016.
Failure to produce reports may result in developers successfully challenging refusals of new development by claiming that Ealing’s Local Plan is out of date and therefore irrelevant.
Kay Garmeson, a represantative of Central Ealing Residents’ Association, says, ” a delay in a Plan is a gift for developers. If Ealing does not have a current plan, then it is easy for developers to say that they do not have to adhere to what the plan says”.
“There is a development next to West Ealing station, which was refused by the Planning Committee and they may win their appeal just because of that,” says Kay Garmeson.
The Ombudsman will consider appropriate steps if the Council does not publish a final AMR within three months.