It is feared a council compulsory purchase order to buy a beleaguered cinema site may delay the project even further.
Ealing Council finally issued the CPO on July 18 to buy the Empire Cinema site in Ealing Broadway after ‘too many empty promises’ and to enable the development of a £100million ‘cultural quarter’.
However residents are concerned that the CPO process and the cinema becoming part of the larger project will create a far longer delay than if the cinema were to be built independently.
Chairman of Ealing Civic Society Robert Gurd said: “We are glad that the council are finally acting. However our worry now is that this CPO process and the cultural quarter will hold it up even more. If Empire Cinemas were to just build the cinema then this would presumably happen within a far smaller time frame than the 2018 deadline of this £100m cultural centre. Another problem at the moment is that there is activity on the site. Some kind of works have begun and there’s a sign saying there’s a ‘fit out’ but no one knows what’s going on.”
Council Leader Julian Bell said: “Empire Cinema has been stalling and trying to find reasons not to go ahead with the project. There has been too many empty promises and now the crunch time has come and the council have finally issued a CPO.
“We also now have a wider vision for this area so we have been determined to take control of the situation in order to deliver a £100million cultural quarter which will transform the area. We will now have the land needed to do that.”
“We have Land Securities as a development partner, Picturehouse Cinemas as the cinema operator and the necessary permissions to make this scheme a reality. What we don’t have is all the land to deliver the council’s vision for the cultural quarter.
“While we would have preferred not to have needed to make a CPO, the people of Ealing have been waiting for a cinema for six years now. This area needs to be improved. And after all the delays we want to ensure this comprehensive scheme and the benefits it brings to Ealing will be delivered.”
A council spokesperson said: “In regards to the activity on the cinema site, this is nothing to do with the council. Empire Cinemas are the only ones who know what is going on on the site.”
The CPO area includes the site of the former Empire Cinema which closed in 2008, a neighbouring office building, bar and other properties on the boundary of the site.
Land Securities announced last week that an eight screen arthouse cinema will open at the site in late 2017.
Empire Cinemas have declined to comment.
