Key information
Request reference number: MGLA310719-9016
Date of response:
Summary of request
Can you provide all Financial Viability Assessments (FVAs) for Merrick Place in Ealing – approved in November 2018; the applicants’ original FVA, subsequent revisions, and any reviews by Ealing Council and the GLA? (Item 2 in the agenda documents pack: The Arches Business Centre, Merrick Road Southall. Ealing planning reference: 181380 FUL)
Ealing council didn’t publish the FVA or any reviews with the planning report documents because they only got round to implementing the Mayor of London’s recommendation on disclosure in April 2019. The GLA were involved in negotiations and scrutiny of this referrable scheme. The Mayor’s Viability SPG of 2017 stated, ‘Where the required viability information is not published by the LPA…the Mayor reserves the right to…publish the information as part of his referral Stages 1 and 2 consideration.’
As all Local Planning Authorities and applicants have been aware of this guidance since 2016, (when a draft SPG was published), will the GLA/Mayor send the relevant documents in this case? If not, can an explanation be provided?
Can you also briefly explain why FVAs and reviews were not published at stage 1 and 2 of the referral process to the Mayor? The SPG implied that all such FVAs would be published by the Mayor after 2017 but this is obviously not the case. Are there guidelines about types of applications or circumstances when the Mayor will publish FVAs that LPAs don’t publish? For example, are they only published if; an FOI request is submitted? Or councillors request this? Or a certain level of public interest is demonstrated? Are any changes planned to policy on this in future? Any information would be helpful.
Related documents
MGLA310719-9016 - EIR response