12 February: Ealing Council Cabinet voted last Tuesday to continue with the sale of a lease of the whole of the Town Hall to hotel developer Mastcraft. This was despite warnings from both CEPAC and Ealing Voice that it would not be legally permissible for the Council to receive either a capital sum or a share of future revenue from a disposal of property belonging to the Victoria Hall charitable trust.

On behalf of Save Ealing’s Centre, the alliance of local Residents' Associations and Community Groups in Ealing, Chair Will French pointed out that the Council and their partners Mastcraft were incurring significant costs in pressing on with the attempted sale of property which the Council does not own. This was being done despite that the fact that a ruling was still awaited from the Charity Commission about proposed alterations to the Victoria Hall Trust, and whether the property could be sold at all.
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Will appealed to the Council on behalf of both CEPAC and Ealing Voice to recall the spirit the Victoria Hall’s original benefactors, and co-operate to look for an alternative future for the Halls that everyone agreed could work for everybody. So far however this appeal has not been answered.

15 January: Mastcraft, the Council’s development partner for Ealing Town Hall, today submitted a detailed planning application to convert the Grade II listed building into a hotel, restaurant and bar.

The submission has been made despite challenges over who owns the Victoria Hall, a significant element in the development plan.

Last year, local group Ealing Voice discovered that the Hall and related area are held in a charitable trust. The council is now seeking approval from the Charity Commission to change the conditions of the Trust and allow them to dispose of it to Mastcraft.

The same day, Tony Miller, Secretary of CEPAC, asked the Council’s General Purposes Committee, which acts as Trustee, to set up a small group to discuss with all interested parties the best way to fulfil the intentions of the original donors of the property which it now holds in Trust. 

​“Unfortunately, the Committee rejected this request,” said Tony. “Remarkably, it had not even been informed of the planning application,” he added.  “It has not considered any of the plans, which involve demolishing a significant part of the Victoria Hall. Nor has it had any indication of what compensation the Trust would get for surrendering control of its principal asset. Yet it agreed to the plan to sell the Hall without waiting for Charity Commission decision.”