Campaigners call Ealing Council “environmentally reckless” over proposed plans to endanger Warren Farm with sports facility

Campaigners and supporters who want to see Warren Farm in Southall be made into a local nature reserve have raised their concerns about Ealing Council’s proposal to allow a large sports facility to be developed on its green open space and have called the council “environmentally reckless”.

These plans are due to be discussed at a cabinet meeting on 25 January 2023.

Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaigners have highlighted the council plans to designate five of Hanwell’s Meadows as Local Nature Reserve, as put forward in the Brent River & Canal Society’s vision to create and protect a Wildlife Corridor, but the council’s proposal only includes half of rewilded Warren Farm.

They also say that even though Warren Farm has recorded rare species, the council plans to develop the rest of the site as a sports facility.

Campaigners have warned that developing the rewilded wildflower meadow would leave Ealing’s only Skylark population with nowhere to breed and contradicts Ealing Council’s own Biodiversity Action Plan which confirms that Warren Farm is the only place in the borough suitable for Skylarks to nest.

Katie Boyles, trustee of the Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) and Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign organiser, said:”While we welcome the council’s plan for a Local Nature Reserve in the Brent River Park, excluding half of Warren Farm is like removing the jewel from the crown. As the council itself acknowledges, nowhere else in the borough has the wide open space for skylarks to nest safely on the ground and the abundance of plant & insect species they need to feed their chicks. That’s why they don’t exist anywhere else in the borough. Our skylarks are a threatened species facing UK and local extinction. This proposal would certainly make them extinct in Ealing.

“It is frankly speaking, environmentally reckless. Where is the accountability for the council to follow their own Biodiversity Action Plan? To adhere to their Public Consultation results in which the overwhelming majority of respondents want Warren Farm Nature Reserve preserved for it’s rare and precious wildlife? The site has had 14 years to rewild and yet sadly, despite our conversations with the council to date, the scientific facts of the matter and our community’s wishes are being at best watered down and at worst, ignored. Warren Farm Nature Reserve is at risk of becoming the biggest de-wilding project in West London. We strongly encourage Ealing Council to have an urgent rethink, there is still time to do the right thing.”

Campaigners also highlighted that developing sport facilities counters Ealing Council’s own Climate and Ecological Strategy. In a statement, they said it “would be counter-productive given the current Climate Emergency and the council’s biodiversity commitments.”

BRCS Trustee and Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign officer, Steven Toft commented: “We deduced, from comments by the council leader and deputy leader in August last year, that the proposal would look something like this and now our fears have been confirmed.

“Warren Farm’s sheer size and interconnectedness are key to its ecological value, so taking a chunk out of it destroys much of the value of the rest. It will mean a significant loss of biodiversity for Ealing. Developing half of Warren Farm will do more ecological damage than putting a development anywhere else in the borough.

“The council talks about its biodiversity and re-wilding ambitions. Starting the new Local Plan with biodiversity loss and de-wilding seems an odd way of going about it.”

In a statement, Ealing Council said: “Warren Farm is Ealing’s largest outdoor sports ground, but it has been out of use for more than 10 years, and the changing rooms and the pavilions are dilapidated. The council remains committed to ensuring that new sports facilities are delivered for the benefit of local people, alongside its ambitious plans for the rewilding of much of the site.”

It added: “Should the plans be approved by cabinet, the council will launch a study for the provision of sports pitches on the remainder of the site not included in the boundaries of the proposed nature reserve. The council will make further announcements on its full strategy for delivering sports facilities following this completion. Ealing’s Sports Facility Strategy supports a need for additional sport facilities in the area.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Athena Zissimos, spokesperson for the Environment including streets, parks, air quality and climate change said: “Liberal Democrats are very concerned that the three options in the Council report mean that around half of Warren Farm will be lost, meaning a significant loss of biodiversity and publicly accessible open space.”

Councillor Zissimos added: “Liberal Democrats have called for the whole of Warren Farm to be designated as a local Nature Reserve. Ealing Council needs to decide between skylarks and cricket and they cannot have both in the same space and they are fooling themselves if they think they can.”

Ealing Green Party chair Neil Reynolds told EALING.NEWS: “The plans for Warren Farm are an attack on nature. The rewilding of nearby land makes no sense if it comes at the price of destroying the existing habitat of protected species. If these rumoured plans are true then it would be a best a terrible error of judgement or even a cynical exercise in greenwashing.”

BRCS Trustee and former Ealing Council Senior Ranger Phil Belman added:

“In 2020, the government committed to protecting 30% of land for nature by 2030. Last November, the Labour Party criticised the government for ‘a monumental dereliction of duty’ over its lack of progress. Yet here in Ealing, our Labour council is planning to destroy biodiversity on its own land. Skylarks need space to nest. Taking half of Warren Farm won’t halve the number of Skylarks breeding, it will eliminate them completely.”

The Brent River & Canal Society and the Warren Farm Nature Reserve group are asking their supporters to take part in the Local Plan consultation and oppose the development of a sports facility on Warren Farm.

They have highlighted the following grounds as reasons to state opposition:

• Significant loss of biodiversity (as acknowledged in the Local Plan’s Site Selection Report)
• Loss of publicly accessible green space (as acknowledged in the Local Plan’s Site Selection Report)
• Loss of habitats for endangered species
• Loss of the borough’s only breeding Skylarks (as acknowledged in the council’s Biodiversity Action Plan)
• The development would be at odds with Ealing Council’s own Climate and Ecological Strategy and would be counter-productive given the current Climate Emergency and the council’s biodiversity commitments.

Residents have until 8 February 2023 to make comments on the Local Plan and can respond by email to: localplan@ealing.gov.uk

The campaign for Warren Farm to be made Local Nature Reserve designation for the entire site and surrounding meadows continues. It already has nearly 15,000 signatories to the petition and people can support it by clicking here.