Work on Ealing Cinema has finally begun but developers have announced commercial space will be reduced to make way for more homes.

Developers St George PLC started work on the Ealing Filmworks site on Monday (December 12) and said it will be ready in 2019, although an exact date is unknown.

It marks a delay after an original target of 2018 was set by Land Securities, who sold the site to St George earlier this year.

Plans set out in an original application from Land Securities proposed 1,000 seats, eight screens, restaurants, shops, bars and cafés .

But St George said it will review planning permission to reduce commercial floorspace and increase the number of homes, some of them affordable.

The developers said it will not seek to make "significant changes," but it is not yet clear how much the original application will be amended.

Managing director of St George, Michael Bryn-Jones, said: " We are delighted to start construction of Ealing Filmworks today, ensuring that Ealing’s long-awaited cinema will be opened in 2019.

"We are reviewing the planning permission and will be making some changes in the New Year, reducing the commercial floorspace and increasing the number of homes, including affordable homes".

A CGI image of the proposed Filmworks site

Commenting on plans to review the planning permission, Conservative Ealing Broadway Councillor, Seema Kumar, said it was disappointing she only found out commercial space would be lost this week.

She added: "We need more housing but I think it would have been better if they (St George) had come out clear at the beginning.

"I think it is about it is about communicating if you are going to start changing plans.

"Could that mean a further delay?"

But Labour Ealing Council leader Julian Bell said St George will be unable to change the minimum size of the cinema.

He added the increase of residential units and reduction of commercial space would serve to make the site friendlier with residential areas nearby, including the Mattock Lane and the Pitzhanger Manor boundaries.

Following the start of construction on Monday, Cllr Bell said: "This is a very happy day for me and for the people of Ealing.

" Crossrail means that Ealing is soon going to be more open and accessible to the rest of London than ever before and this development sits at the heart of our plans to regenerate and revitalise the town centre in time for all of the benefits that it will bring".

Will French, who has lived on the nearby Gordon Road for 23 years, said: "It has been desperate and I think everyone in the entire Ealing community have suffered.

"We used to love going there as a family and we have seriously missed it.

"So we are delighted if and when we get the cinema".

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