A campaign against Ealing Council’s plans for a temporary 1,200-seat Troubadour theatre in Walpole Park has gathered thousands of signatures, with the petition becoming the first to pass the council’s new threshold for a full Council debate.
The Save Walpole Park campaign has been leafleting homes, speaking to residents and campaigning across Ealing against the proposals.
Nick Lane, who has lived in Ealing for most of his life and lives near Walpole Park, is one of the residents involved in the campaign and created the Ealing Council e-petition opposing the theatre plans.
The petition has already passed the 3,671-signature threshold required for a full Ealing Council debate, subject to signatures being verified after it closes on Sunday (4 October 2026).
With the petition now attracting more than 4,500 signatures (as of 5pm 2 October 2026) and entering its final weekend, EALING.NEWS spoke to Mr Lane about the response from residents, how the campaign has developed, its engagement with Ealing Council and Labour councillors and what campaigners hope to achieve.
EALING.NEWS: What do you make of the petition now passing 4,500 signatures, having already crossed the 3,671 threshold needed for a full Council debate?
Nick Lane: The further signatures gained since the petition met the threshold underlines the fierce opposition to the Troubadour proposal and the fact that the word continues to spread about the plan.
Our leafletters have continued their efforts since the weekend and continue to find people who hadn’t heard about the scheme but are horrified when told about it.
We are encouraging the community not to stop at the threshold but to show the widespread strength of feeling about the plan and to send a strong message to the council so that they are forced to listen and hopefully do the right thing – of not approving the Troubadour proposal at the next meeting.
EALING.NEWS: What message do you think this sends out to Ealing Council?
Nick Lane: The petition’s success sends a clear message to the council that if they are committed to “listening to and acting on the views of the public”, as the e-petition webpage says, they need to take careful stock of the extent and depth of public opposition to the proposal and act now.
It also shows that if the council does not listen, the proposal will meet with overwhelming opposition during the consultation, the planning stage and even in the courts – we are prepared to go all the way.
This can all be avoided if the council reads the writing on the wall. If they persist, they will have a big reputation problem on their hands and not only that, it will be a scandalous waste of taxpayer money as the proposal can never hope to get through on any objective criteria.
EALING.NEWS: Have you noticed any change in the level of support or interest in the campaign since the petition passed the threshold?
Nick Lane: We continue to find people of all persuasions and perspectives objecting to the plan.
Mothers whose children use the playground are concerned about the safety risks of having a large footfall venue next door; longstanding Ealing residents are outraged that a park with this history and heritage would be destroyed for a theatre monstrosity; locals are concerned about potential noise and light pollution.
There is no one reason why people are supporting the campaign. The proposal cuts across so many users of the park because the park is a popular space for everyone in the community.
EALING.NEWS: What are you planning to do during the final couple of days to encourage more people to sign?
Nick Lane: There will be a last push over the weekend to get as many more signatures as possible by the close at 23.59 on Sunday.
The brilliant people who have worked tirelessly talking to residents, leafleting households and getting the message across via social media are not giving up and are determined to use the window we have to send the strongest of messages to the council.
From the initial efforts centred on streets near to the park itself and then visitors to the park over the marathon weekend, we then broadened our reach to Pitshanger, Hanwell, Ealing Common and other areas to highlight that if this would happen to Walpole, it could also happen to your local park. This is resonating.
We’ve also had leafletters targeting footfall at Ealing Broadway Tube station. We may even hit 5,000 signatures on the current sign rates, which would be amazing!
EALING.NEWS: What sort of response have you been getting from residents while campaigning in and around Ealing?
Nick Lane: Many residents remain unaware of the proposal or do not fully appreciate its scale, duration and inevitable harmful effects on the community.
Another repeated response is how difficult it is to sign the petition and how the system leaves some, particularly the elderly, disabled and residents whose first language is not English, without a voice.
Overwhelmingly, the campaign has been welcomed and many people have expressed their thanks to campaigners for bringing the proposal to their attention.
Next to nobody canvassed supports the proposal. A few have indicated that they like the idea of a theatre, but not at the expense of the park.
The council are saying that there are people who support the proposal, but that is not being borne out by responses to campaigners.
EALING.NEWS: Has anything about the level of support for the petition or the way the campaign has developed surprised you?
Nick Lane: Yes, the number of people who care so deeply about Walpole Park and who genuinely understand and believe in the importance of green open space in Ealing and further afield.
Many instinctively recognise the dreadful precedent this proposal might set and want to stop it.
They do not want to attack the council. They want the council to listen and act on their genuinely held and justified concerns.
People also recognise the need to throw the book at this Walpole proposal now so we don’t miss the window of opportunity we have at the outset.
EALING.NEWS: Have you had any engagement with Ealing Council or its Labour councillors since the campaign began? If so, what has been discussed and have you received any response to the concerns you have raised?
Nick Lane: Many campaigners and non-campaigners have written to Labour cabinet members and councillors to register their feelings.
We are wondering if we are detecting less fervent support for the proposal in some of the replies but hope that’s not wishful thinking – the mantra very much remains that the proposal has a long way to go before it is approved and the point of the consultation is to consider factors in the round. Let’s see.
But questions and concerns are not being addressed adequately.
For example, we received an email from Councillor Lauren Wall stating: “Following a review of potential locations, it was concluded that the council did not own any other suitable site in the area apart from the space currently used for summer festivals”, in response to an email highlighting the unsuitability of Walpole Park as the venue.
We asked Councillor Wall to provide a copy of that review, but have had no response.
We have also submitted a series of Freedom of Information requests to bottom out what assessments were done and the dialogue with Troubadour to date but have not yet heard back on these.
