THE Friends of the Victoria Hall have welcomed the prospect of a debate next Tuesday (13) at an Ealing Council meeting about the future of the town hall.
It includes the large part of it owned by the community through the 1893 Victoria Hall Trust.
A motion for debate will be moved by the Liberal Democrat opposition, which will call for the cancellation of a 2016 scheme which would involve the loss of the Victoria Hall to become part of a luxury hotel.
The LibDem motion also urges that any new scheme for the hall should be community-led, rather than developer-led and that a genuinely independent Victoria Hall Trust, with the majority of members being non-councillors, should be set up to determine the hall’s future use.
FoVH chair Roger Green said: “With rumours currently circulating that the council has parted company with its luxury hotel developer partner, Mastcraft, FoVH hopes this debate will shed some light on this sorry and expensive saga and pave the way for a properly inclusive solution that’s better for the people of our borough.”
He added: “If the council’s hotel partner has indeed pulled out, it should waste no time in creating a new, inclusive, community-led future for the town hall and the Victoria Hall, the only large indoor venue in Ealing that’s easily accessible from all parts of the borough.”
At its April 23 meeting (pictured), Ealing Council disclosed it had spent nearly £3m since July 2016 in its so-far-unsuccessful efforts to redevelop the town hall site.
The Mastcraft project has been in limbo since April 2021 when an appeal was lodged against a decision by the Charity Commission to support Ealing Council’s attempt to take over the trust's property.
A three-day hearing of the appeal took place in February 2023, but the outcome is unknown, with the court still to announce its decision.
The council meeting takes place at 7pm on Tuesday, June 13. It will be available to attend in person and to view on the Ealing Council YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EalingCouncil
The agenda and can be downloaded from:
https://ealing.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=138&MId=6033
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