​The CEPAC campaign
A community arts centre for Ealing

Ealing Performance & Arts Centre is a charity which exists to promote a wide range of artistic and cultural activities in the community. As CEPAC, we have been fighting since 2010 for an arts facility in central Ealing. In November 2018, we submitted a bid to convert the Victoria Hall, which adjoins Ealing Town Hall and belongs to a charitable trust, into a community-based performance & arts centre.
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Our work to reach this important milestone has been through several key stages. We have:
  • conducted professional demand studies  
  • ​prepared a detailed business plan
  • ​looked at a variety of sites
  • had discussions with landowners, developers and the Council
  • won public approval for the idea through the Neighbourhood Plan referendum​
  • made a bid for the Victoria Hall and associated spaces 
  • helped set up a Friends of Victoria Hall to save the Hall for the community.​
More details are on the page Our Campaign. 
PictureCEPAC's ideas for Ealing's Victoria Hall
Our plan
CEPAC's proposal is for the Council-managed Trust which owns the Victoria Hall to be transferred to new independent Trustees, who would refurbish it for community use. We have drawn up a detailed scheme for the space to be separated from the Council's plan to sell the Town Hall. 

A detailed feasibility study shows that our spatial plan fits well into the area covered by the Victoria Hall trust. Details of the plans can be seen in a video  https://vimeo.com/457474916

The Victoria Hall was built by private donations, and it has been confirmed that the Trust which owns it is charitable.  The Charity Commission has ruled (see right) that  the Council cannot change the existing Trust Deed and sell the Hall to a private developer, unless it makes major changes to its scheme including the appointment of independent Trustees. 
How you can help
  • Support our campaign by donating at
    ​         https://www.justgiving.com/cepac
  • Alternatively, you can use our gift aid form by downloading it here.This can add 25% to your donation through tax relief.
  • Join our email list to keep in touch with the developments in our campaign by clicking on http://eepurl.com/vHwIP.
  • Spread the word and encourage others to back us too.

​Thank you!
Council sale of Victoria Hall nears deadline

The Charity Commission has set a date of 2 April for a decision on the Council's plan to sell the Victoria Hall.

The Council needs permission to include the Trust property in its planned sale of the Town Hall to hotel developer Mastcraft.

There are conditions for this. Some have been met, but the Commission is insisting that a new trustee body should be set up, with independent members who would have the power to reject the Council plan if it is thought not to be in the interests of the Trust.

On 2 March, the Council approved a plan to create a new trust board with three independent members. Two have already been appointed. However the conditions when members must recognise a conflict of interest between the needs of the trust and the wishes of the Council, when councillors will have to abstain from voting, have not yet been spelt out. In these circumstances the independents can act alone.
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Third Trustee needed

An advertisement for a third independent member has been published. CEPAC is encouraging anyone who wants to preserve the Trust and its historic Victoria Hall to apply. Applications can be made up to 28 March; see details here..
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A selection will not be made until the end of April and the Friends of Victoria Hall, of which CEPAC is a member, has urged the Commission not to give clearance to the Council scheme until it has met all the conditions. If this has not been done by 2 April, a new public consultation will have to take place before any sale can go ahead. 
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