PERMISSION has been granted on appeal for a 20-storey residential tower block in West Ealing. 

Developer Southern Grove overturned an earlier decision by Ealing councillors to withhold approval.

The development, called 55 West, will include 144 affordable flats, with split-level ground floor amenity and commercial spaces.

The scheme incorporates two towers, one of 18 storeys and one of 12 storeys with communal roof gardens.

In total, 50 homes will be available at London Living Rent, while the remaining 94 would be available under London Shared Ownership. 

The building is at the junction of Manor Road and Drayton Green Road, almost directly over West Ealing rail station. 

The scheme was originally designed as a 26-storey tower but this was scaled back following opposition from residents and the council in 2019.

A revised application was submitted in May 2020 but was refused by Ealing Council’s planning committee last December. 

Planning Inspector Paul Griffiths ruled: “The proposal would deliver 144 units of much-needed affordable housing in a tall building of exemplary design that would have no harmful impact on the character or appearance of the area.”

In April, councillors voted to approve a 26-storey building that will replace the council’s own office buildings in Uxbridge Road with 477 homes alongside offices and commercial space.

In 2019, another residential tower for West Ealing, rising to 25 storeys, was approved in Hastings Road.

Tom Slingsby, CEO of Southern Grove, said: “We are delighted to have won a victory for common sense, with the overturning of the original refusal.”