A LOCAL pressure group has said a damning report into a new development shows a need for a masterplan for the centre of Ealing.

Save Ealing’s Centre (SEC) an alliance of more than 20 residents’ groups, has welcomed a report by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), recommending a development on the site of Dickens Yard behind the town hall be rejected by councillors.

Anthony Lewis, a spokesman for the group, said: “English Heritage has already produced a very critical report on the proposed Dickens Yard development, and now CABE has come up with an equally scathing report.

“CABE’s comments demonstrate that the Dickens Yard proposals represent poor quality massive overdevelopment which does not meet national requirements or the needs of the community in Ealing.”

Among the criticisms levelled in the latest report were the size of the buildings, how much it would contribute to the community in the town centre and the links between shopping areas and housing on the site.

Mr Lewis said: “We believe the time has come for Ealing Council to reconsider its proposals to redevelop Dickens Yard in isolation, and instead to hold back on the Dickens Yard development until it has worked up and set in place an integrated master plan for the whole of the centre of Ealing.

“The recent Tibbalds report is a start, but much more is required. The Tibbalds report contains plenty of useful points of detail but it is no substitute for a properly conceived masterplan.

“We need far-sighted leaders and officers who can look beyond easily-managed piecemeal projects on a site by site basis and develop this overall vision of a transformed and revitalised Ealing.”

Mr Lewis also said the group, which was set up to oppose the original Arcadia application last September, is in the process of putting together its own plans for Ealing’s future.