The Victoria Hall, part of the Town Hall, is central Ealing’s largest community space. It was paid for by Victorian crowdfunding and is governed by a charitable Trust set up in 1893. It has served us for 126 years, hosting countless meetings, entertainments, protests, celebrations, examinations, exhibitions and more.
Ealing Council is trying to dispose of the Victoria Hall to hotel developers. Its facilities will be as good as lost to the people for whom they were created. Not only that, but part of this Grade II-listed building would be destroyed to accommodate the hotel. The Victoria Hall is not the property of the Council. It has applied to the Charity Commission to be allowed to take control of the Trust that owns the Hall. The Charity Commission has recently published a draft 'Scheme' which would allow that to happen.
We've challenged the Scheme with a devastating 40-page legal critique of its numerous flaws, along with 612 pages of supporting documents.
On 7 April 2020 the Charity Commission published a review of Ealing Council’s application to take control of the assets of the charitable Trust that owns the Victoria Hall and Prince’s Room. This blocks the Council’s current proposals for selling the Hall, along with other Trust property and the rest of Ealing Town Hall so that the site can be turned into a boutique hotel.
In press statement released with the Review, the Charity Commission said: “We are not satisfied that the decision to lease to the commercial developer, on the terms agreed, is in the best interests of the charity [Victoria Hall Trust]. We expect the charity to reconsider this deal, in light of our decision, and we have made a series of specific recommendations to the charity to consider.
“We expect the charity to now undertake further work to consider how they can best advance the interests of the charity and the benefit it delivers to the Borough of Ealing.”
The Charity Commission verdict means that its deal with hotel developer Mastcraft cannot proceed unless the Council substantially revises its proposals.
The 13-page ruling agreed with many of the serious criticisms of the Council scheme made by the Friends of the Victoria Hall (FoVH) and the many other objectors.
The Reviewer appointed by the Commission states in the Charity Commission Report: “I cannot see that any consideration has been given as to whether the proposals are the best that can be obtained by the Charity."
The Review goes on to say that that the Scheme proposed by the Council for the future of the charity applying to the Victoria and the Prince’s Halls could only go ahead only on the following conditions:
- The charity’s property has to be properly identified (which so far has not been done) and consideration should be given to how some of the money earned by the Council from the deal with Mastcraft would be distributed to the charity;
- The benefits provided by the charity to the public would have to be re-provided in the building or elsewhere;
- In the light of this, the Commission would need clarification on how the Council proposed to use the money earned from the sale of the Halls to benefit the charity;
- Steps needed to be taken to ensure that the hotel operator was obliged to re-provide the current facilities, as well as indications on how this would be monitored and enforced;
- Procedures would need to be put in place to manage any conflicts of interest that might arise between the charity and the Council. At present the trustees are members of the Council's General Purposes Committee.
The Reviewer concludes that if the Council wished to proceed it would need to present a revised case “that demonstrates that the proposals now amount to a more suitable and effective use for the charity’s property.”
A response was sent by Council officers to the Charity Commission on 24 November 2020.
We have written to the Charity Commission to raise our serious concerns about this response.
FoVH is concerned that not only does the Council propose to ignore most of the recommendations of its Review, but its response contains some significant errors of fact.
We have explained why we believe that the draft Scheme for the Victoria Hall cannot be allowed to proceed and is likely to be challenged if it does.
And we have noted that proceedings at the three Trustee meetings that have taken place since the Review in April have confirmed our view that the Trustees remain conflicted because of their dual role as Ealing Councillors.
The next development in this long and sorry saga, expected in early 2021, will be for the Charity Commission to react to the Council’s proposals for the proposed Victoria Hall Trust Scheme.
Our fight to save the Victoria Hall for the community is being supported by this appeal:
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-victoria-hall/
Our CampaignHere's why you need to act to save the largest indoor community space in central Ealing.
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About the Victoria HallAll you need to know about why the Victoria Hall is so important.
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Join Us!Don't just sit there, do something to save the Victoria Hall!
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The Friends of the Victoria Hall
The Friends of the Victoria Hall is supported by
Central Ealing Neighbourhood Forum, Campaign for an Ealing Performance & Arts Centre, Central Ealing Residents’ Association, Ealing Art Group, Ealing Arts & Leisure, Ealing Civic Society, Save Ealing’s Centre, Gordon Road & Surrounding Streets Residents' Association, Residents’ Association of Madeley and Westbury Roads, West Ealing Neighbours and many individual members.
Central Ealing Neighbourhood Forum, Campaign for an Ealing Performance & Arts Centre, Central Ealing Residents’ Association, Ealing Art Group, Ealing Arts & Leisure, Ealing Civic Society, Save Ealing’s Centre, Gordon Road & Surrounding Streets Residents' Association, Residents’ Association of Madeley and Westbury Roads, West Ealing Neighbours and many individual members.
