A planning inspector is this week to decide on a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) of Ealing’s controversial cinema site.

The inquiry into the proposed CPO of the Empire-owned site began on Tuesday (April 14).

It was feared that a council CPO to buy the 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 £100m "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.

At the time, Ealing Civic Society chairman Robert Gurd said: “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."

The CPO area includes the site of the former Empire Cinema - which closed in 2008 - as well as a neighbouring office building, bar and other properties on the boundary of the site.

The former cinema was demolished in February 2009 (apart from the frontage) with Empire originally planning a 16-screen cinema.

However, building work never started and six years on nothing more than a facade held up by scaffolding can be seen.

Following an agreement entered into between the council and Land Securities last September, they tried to acquire the properties within the CPO site by agreement with the owners.

Land Securities can’t embark on any work until the CPO is approved.

The firm announced last year that Picturehouse Cinemas had been selected as the cinema operator for the development and will open an eight-screen arthouse cinema at the site in late 2017.

The 1,000-seat cinema, which will incorporate the most digitally advanced projection and sound systems to ensure the best film experience, will include a ground-floor café-bar, a statement staircase and a first-floor bar.

Land Securities’ project director, Riccardo Mai, last year said: “This is an important and exciting regeneration scheme for Ealing and will provide a fantastic leisure destination, new homes, public space and links to surrounding streets.

"The council will use its CPO powers as a last resort but it remains ours and the council’s preference to try and reach earlier agreement with the affected parties wherever possible, even after the CPO is made.”

The five-day hearing at the Town Hall is open to the public and if anyone wishes to attend or speak this will be at the Inspector’s discretion.

The Inspector will listen to evidence about the site before making a ruling.