Rupa Huq Calls Time on Acton Old Town Hall's Stopped Clock

Asks housing association to get it working again


Acton Old Town Hall on the High Street. Inset: Rupa Huq MP celebrates the completion of the Acton Town Hall redevelopment in 2019 with Mike Johnson (Group Director of Development, One Housing), Cllr Dr Abdullah Gulaid, Mayor of Ealing and Richard Hill (Chief Executive, One Housing)

Participate

Bookmark and Share

Sign up for our Acton newsletter

Comment on this story on the

Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq has written to the owners of the Acton Old Town Hall urging them to fix the iconic clock on the Hall’s tower “as quickly as possible”.

She contacted One Housing, who redeveloped the Hall into 71 apartments which opened in 2019, on Monday [25 April 2022] after receiving complaints from Acton residents about the stopped clock.

In a letter to the housing association’s Chief Executive Richard Hill, Dr Huq writes, “As the custodians of this fine Grade II-listed piece of local heritage, I would strongly urge One Housing to work proactively to get the clock functioning again as quickly as possible.

“Our Town Hall deserves to be well looked after and for its clock tower once again to be a source of pride – and of the correct time – for residents of Acton rather than the reminder of failure it now seems to be serving as.”

Huq has asked to receive news on “repairs to the clock as soon as practicably possible”, having previously raised concerns about the motionless clock back in October 2021 in writing to no effect.

The lack of action to fix the clock, which first started ticking when the Hall opened in 1910, has sparked annoyance from locals.

One Acton resident who wished to remain nameless told us, “The stopped clock is a complete disgrace to our town centre – why won’t they sort it out after all this time?

“It reflects poorly on our town, and makes the place look uncared for and run down. I hope One Housing will finally recognise that the clock is a symbol of civic pride and get the hands of that clock turning once again!”

The MP said, “At the weekend the umpteenth constituent stopped me in the street and told me what an embarrassment to Acton the broken clock is. I have to say, I completely agree.

“I already raised this with One Housing six months ago, amidst a plethora of other issues that have been raised by residents, yet my plea to do this as a gesture of goodwill without passing on the cost to residents fell on deaf ears. The clock remains out of action and has been for some time to the point that Acton is being failed.

“For that reason, I will keep pressing One Housing to take immediate action to sort out the broken clock – let’s see what comes of this letter.”

Group Director for Development at One Housing Robert Marcantoni said, “Since 2014, One Housing has worked closely with Ealing Council, Historic England, local community groups and residents to redevelop Grade II listed Acton Town Hall and deliver much-needed homes, including affordable homes. The sensitively designed development retains a number of the building’s original features including its façade.

“One Housing has previously presented options for repairing the clock to Ealing Council as the clock had not been working for some years prior to our involvement. We remain happy to carry on working closely with local partners to agree a solution that continues to preserve the heritage of Acton Town Hall.”

 

Value Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.


April 29, 2022

 

Bookmark and Share