The landmark cycle parking structure
opposite Ealing Broadway station has been spared the axe thanks to a decision
from the Planning Inspectorate released 3 August 2017. Ealing Council built the
Cycle Hub on Haven Green in 2012, bringing order to a situation that at the
time had bicycles chained to any available lamppost or bit of railing people
could find. One section of the popular cycle parking structure sits on an area
that had been designated as common land in 1968. Although the Friends of Haven
Green originally worked to ensure the facility's attractive design fit the
landscape when it was built, they later filed a court challenge to demand it be
torn down. Ealing Council made two applications to try to save the Cycle Hub: one
asked the Inspector to rule it an appropriate public amenity for the common,
and the other was to “deregister” the small portion of the common where it stands. Ealing
Cycling Campaign provided expert evidence at the public inquiry, and we reached
out to supporters this past spring. Many of you wrote to the Planning
Inspectorate, asking them to save the Cycle Hub. These supportive comments made
up over 90% of the public response, and we thank each and every one of you who
wrote in. Inspector Alan Beckett heard all available evidence and directed that
the common land designation be removed from the area covered by the Cycle Hub,
via an Order of Deregistration. His conclusion reads as follows:
The
circumstances of this case are perhaps unique in that the land at issue is both
at the centre of a built up area in west London and opposite a major commuter
station which is likely to see an increase in passenger traffic with the
introduction of Crossrail. The benefits which would accrue to the public and
the neighbourhood in terms of an improvement in air quality and a shift towards
sustainable means of transport lead me to conclude that this is an exceptional
case of the type envisaged in the published policy, where consent for
deregistration should be granted without the offer of replacement land being
made. Therefore I conclude that the application should be granted and an Order
of Deregistration should be given.
