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Haven Green is central to Ealing and forms a very important function for relaxation and pleasant environment.
Unfortunately there have recently been many attempts to change this with new cycle lanes and parking, some changes to local buildings and severe disruption by Crossrail works..
SEC is keeping a close eye on all this and will keep you informed of what is happening and actions needed.
Items concerned with the Croossrail works on Haven Green can be seen on our Crossrail site.
In the meantime, all previous information, going back for some years, has been removed to an archive site HERE
Haven Green from the north
In the meantime, this is a bit of history about the Green and information on how work has been done to designate Haven Green as a "town or village green"
Haven Green has
existed as common land from medieval times. Cary's Survey of Middlesex
(1786) shows a cluster of houses around a triangular shaped green at
Ealing Haven, quite distinct from the larger settlement at Ealing
Green. Haven Green was purchased as public open space by the Ealing
Local Board, at the same time as other common land at Ealing Common and
Ealing Green.
Haven Green is the dominant feature of the conservation area. The Green
is surrounded by large chestnut trees, planted about one hundred years
ago by the far-sighted Charles Jones, surveyor to the Ealing Local
Board. The Green is traversed diagonally by a road linking the
south-east and north-west corners and which, although important for
traffic circulation, detracts from the full enjoyment and recreational
use of the open space.
Haven Green provides an important open space close to the busy Ealing
shopping centre, and is the focus for the Victorian, Edwardian and more
recent residential development of this part of central Ealing.
These are extracts from the Council's own appraisal of the Haven Green
Conservation Area. The area is designated in the local Development Plan
as "Public Open Space", and the plan also recognises that the
surrounding area is one of moderate or severe "local park deficiency"
(see Ealing UDP Map4, which was re-confirmed in 2007).
There is now a local group,
the Friends of Haven Green, dedicated to the protection of the Green and its surroundings and which is a member of Save Ealing's Centre.
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Village green application goes back to Committee Ealing Council is at last to make a decision on whether Haven Green should be designated as a "town or village green".
The application, first made as long ago as March 2009, has been subject to protracted legal argument. After a year had passed, the Council sought an initial opinion from a QC. The Regulatory Committee, which is responsible for the final decision, then decided to ask the national Planning Inspectorate to set up a public inquiry to settle the issue. However when it was discovered that the Inspectorate could no longer undertake this work, the Council commissioned a further barrister's opinion.
Like the first one, the barrister's report concentrated on the legal background and recommended that the application should be rejected because the provisions of the relevant Acts had not been met. However he also suggested that the supporters of the application should have a chance of reply.
This has now been done. The response claims that the legal position remains unclear, and that the Council should accept the application as being in the spirit of the legislation and in the best interest of Ealing's residents. The matter will return to the Regulatory Committee at its next meeting in November.
23 September 2011