What's Wrong With The Deal
INTRODUCTION
The Victoria Hall is the large public hall built in 1888 next to Ealing Town Hall with money raised by public subscription. Underneath is a second space known as the Princes Hall. The halls are owned by the Victoria Hall Trust, formed in 1893 to ensure that they would be run for the benefit of the local community.
Ealing Council wants to dispose of the halls to a hotel developer on a 250-year lease so that they can become part of a luxury hotel. Part of this arrangement would also involve swapping the Princes Hall for the smaller Queens Hall elsewhere in the town hall and demolishing some of the Trust property.
Public use of the Victoria and Queens Halls would be available to community groups only on a restricted basis, with price increases controlled for the first 10 of the 250 years.
The provisions of the 1893 Victoria Hall Trust do not allow the Council to dispose of the halls, so Ealing Council has applied to the Charity Commission to change the rules so that it can take control of the Trust’s property.
In December 2019, following representations from the Council, the Charity Commission published a draft of a new ‘Scheme’ -- the Trust's governing document -- that would clear the way for the disposal and demolition to happen, subject to the result of a public consultation that ended on 7 January 2020. This draft Scheme refers to a highly unsatisfactory 'Community Use Protocol’ which is part of Ealing Council’s deal with the hotel developer.
Our 40-page submission to the Commission amounted to a devastating critique of the draft Scheme.
On 7 March, in response the many objections by Ealing residents and the Friends of the Victoria Hall, the Charity Commission published a Review of the Scheme which refused to allow the Council to dispose of the Victoria Hall on the terms it had has proposed.
We say: it’s our Victoria Hall, not the Council's. This is a very bad deal, so don't let this happen!
The Borough is experiencing rapid population growth. Whole new communities are being established and Ealing needs a large meeting place in the centre of the Borough more than ever before.
A modernised, well-managed multipurpose centre is what’s needed, not another hotel.
EALING DOESN’T NEED THIS SCHEME BUT IT DOES NEED THE VICTORIA & PRINCES HALLS
1. There is no need for this Scheme:
THE SCHEME IS BAD FOR EALING’S COMMUNITIES
3. The Scheme would reduce the total amount of space available for public use just as the population of Ealing is rapidly rising. The Council’s own figures show that the number of households in the Borough will increase 23% between 2011 and 2025, so demand for affordable public space in Ealing is growing.
4. Significant parts of both halls are proposed for demolition under the planning approval. These areas will be transferred to the hotel developer with no compensation to the Trust.
5. The Community Use Protocol (CUP) (https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/14720/community_use_protocol.pdf) was created without any community involvement and lays down the terms under which the community would have access to the Victoria Hall when it’s part of the hotel. However, it’s only a part of the planning permission for the development, not a section of the draft Scheme that will be policed by the Charity Commission. Consequently, the CUP could be amended at any time, and in practice is not likely to be enforceable after 10 years.
6. The Community Use Working Group to be set up to oversee the implementation of the CUP of room hire ‘may’ co-opt members of the community, but there is no obligation to do so and consequently this is unlikely to happen. Decision making on the use of the Victoria, Princes and Queens Halls will be subject to the hotel operator’s commercial interests.
7. Community Use Rates will not be available after 5pm on Fridays or on Saturdays or Sundays. The very tight definition of who qualifies for the ‘community discount’ will exclude many community organisations which have used the Halls for decades.
8. Even with the discount, rates are being raised by 10% and guaranteed for just 10 years. Many community organisations are already priced out of being able to hire the space.
THE PROPOSED LAND SWAP IS A BAD DEAL, BASED UPON AN INCORRECT VALUATION
9. The proposed ‘land swap’ of the Queens Hall for the Princes Hall would severely reduce the Trust’s property, without compensation.
The full details of why we say that the Scheme is bad for the Victoria Hall Trust and bad for the people of Ealing can be seen in our detailed representation.
The Victoria Hall is the large public hall built in 1888 next to Ealing Town Hall with money raised by public subscription. Underneath is a second space known as the Princes Hall. The halls are owned by the Victoria Hall Trust, formed in 1893 to ensure that they would be run for the benefit of the local community.
Ealing Council wants to dispose of the halls to a hotel developer on a 250-year lease so that they can become part of a luxury hotel. Part of this arrangement would also involve swapping the Princes Hall for the smaller Queens Hall elsewhere in the town hall and demolishing some of the Trust property.
Public use of the Victoria and Queens Halls would be available to community groups only on a restricted basis, with price increases controlled for the first 10 of the 250 years.
The provisions of the 1893 Victoria Hall Trust do not allow the Council to dispose of the halls, so Ealing Council has applied to the Charity Commission to change the rules so that it can take control of the Trust’s property.
In December 2019, following representations from the Council, the Charity Commission published a draft of a new ‘Scheme’ -- the Trust's governing document -- that would clear the way for the disposal and demolition to happen, subject to the result of a public consultation that ended on 7 January 2020. This draft Scheme refers to a highly unsatisfactory 'Community Use Protocol’ which is part of Ealing Council’s deal with the hotel developer.
Our 40-page submission to the Commission amounted to a devastating critique of the draft Scheme.
On 7 March, in response the many objections by Ealing residents and the Friends of the Victoria Hall, the Charity Commission published a Review of the Scheme which refused to allow the Council to dispose of the Victoria Hall on the terms it had has proposed.
We say: it’s our Victoria Hall, not the Council's. This is a very bad deal, so don't let this happen!
The Borough is experiencing rapid population growth. Whole new communities are being established and Ealing needs a large meeting place in the centre of the Borough more than ever before.
A modernised, well-managed multipurpose centre is what’s needed, not another hotel.
EALING DOESN’T NEED THIS SCHEME BUT IT DOES NEED THE VICTORIA & PRINCES HALLS
1. There is no need for this Scheme:
- Ealing Council has mismanaged the Victoria Hall Trust over many years. It has produced no accounts to justify its claim that it has been subsidising the operation of the Halls. To the contrary, the Council has benefited from subsidised rates when it has used Trust areas and it has taken Trust revenues to defray the costs of the Town Hall.
- If the Trust were independent of the Council and freed from the need to contribute to the costs of the Town Hall, it could run efficiently and profitably
- Contrary to what the Council says, the two halls can operate separately from the rest of the building.
- The Trust property can and should remain used for its original charitable purpose, rather than be absorbed into a commercial hotel operation.
THE SCHEME IS BAD FOR EALING’S COMMUNITIES
3. The Scheme would reduce the total amount of space available for public use just as the population of Ealing is rapidly rising. The Council’s own figures show that the number of households in the Borough will increase 23% between 2011 and 2025, so demand for affordable public space in Ealing is growing.
4. Significant parts of both halls are proposed for demolition under the planning approval. These areas will be transferred to the hotel developer with no compensation to the Trust.
5. The Community Use Protocol (CUP) (https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/14720/community_use_protocol.pdf) was created without any community involvement and lays down the terms under which the community would have access to the Victoria Hall when it’s part of the hotel. However, it’s only a part of the planning permission for the development, not a section of the draft Scheme that will be policed by the Charity Commission. Consequently, the CUP could be amended at any time, and in practice is not likely to be enforceable after 10 years.
6. The Community Use Working Group to be set up to oversee the implementation of the CUP of room hire ‘may’ co-opt members of the community, but there is no obligation to do so and consequently this is unlikely to happen. Decision making on the use of the Victoria, Princes and Queens Halls will be subject to the hotel operator’s commercial interests.
7. Community Use Rates will not be available after 5pm on Fridays or on Saturdays or Sundays. The very tight definition of who qualifies for the ‘community discount’ will exclude many community organisations which have used the Halls for decades.
8. Even with the discount, rates are being raised by 10% and guaranteed for just 10 years. Many community organisations are already priced out of being able to hire the space.
THE PROPOSED LAND SWAP IS A BAD DEAL, BASED UPON AN INCORRECT VALUATION
9. The proposed ‘land swap’ of the Queens Hall for the Princes Hall would severely reduce the Trust’s property, without compensation.
- The independent valuation used to justify the Scheme was deficient because the plans provided by Ealing Council for the valuation were inadequate. These omitted all the Trust’s ancillary spaces including kitchen, servery, cloakrooms and toilets.
- Current rental charges for the Princes Hall are a third higher than those for the Queens Hall, reflecting their real present equivalent worth.
- The Queens Hall, in contrast to the Princes Hall has no direct access from the street, making access less convenient.
- Many lettings of the Trust property include both Victoria and Prince’s Halls. The land swap would remove this practical arrangement.
The full details of why we say that the Scheme is bad for the Victoria Hall Trust and bad for the people of Ealing can be seen in our detailed representation.