A potted history of Warren Farm and why Warren Farm Nature Reserve is its next phase…
When searching on the internet for 'Warren Farm, London’ you will discover a wealth of information. From its time as farmland to past campaign groups who fought long and hard to keep the land in the public domain, Warren Farm is rich with historical importance and usage.
Understanding what has gone before provides perspective as to the future importance of Warren Farm and therefore what we believe needs to happen next in the wider context of the UK, where natural resources and wildlife are in sharp decline.
Often, it is the green spaces on our doorsteps that are the ones we take for granted the most. And yet, every green space we have ever set foot upon has historically been passed down and conserved or contested to ensure its preservation and openness for all. Every green space has a story to tell.
Here is the short historical journey of Warren Farm:
At the very beginning, Warren Farm would have been primaeval marshy woodland cleared by early humans.
Bronze Age and Iron Age workings on the land have been evidenced by English Heritage.
By the Elizabethan Period, Warren Farm was a tenancy of the Osterley Park Estate. The estate was owned by Sir Thomas Gresham, who opened one of Britain’s first paper mills, by the River Brent in the 1570s.
In 1805, Osterley Park came into the ownership of George Child-Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey.
In the Victorian period, Warren Farm was a working farm run by George Trumper and his family. George opposed the Trumpers Crossing Halt train station that was introduced as an idea in the 1850s and was later built in 1904. The nearby road named Trumper’s Way is named after the Trumper family.
Ordnance Survey maps from the early 1890s show a public footpath across the site. This right of way was diverted - the newer route runs along the railway.
In 1925, the Countess of Jersey sold Warren Farm to the London County Council (LCC) for sports usage, but the Depression and World War II disrupted these plans.
Warren Farm was run as a farm by the local St Bernard’s Psychiatric Hospital until 1961.
The LCC and its successor body ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) used the land as a variety of sports pitches for schoolchildren and clubs. In the 1960s the now derelict changing rooms were erected and football, cricket, netball, tennis, shot-put and long jump pitches were on the site. When ILEA was dissolved in 1990, Warren Farm passed to the London Borough of Ealing (LBE). Later, a children’s day centre the Pride and Joy Child Care Nursery were based there. The Warren Farm Radio Flyers still fly their planes on Warren Farm today.
In 2009 the London Borough of Ealing began proceedings to dispose of Warren Farm by means of a 200 year lease at a peppercorn rent (today’s equivalent of £1) to Queen’s Park Rangers (QPR) football club. Ealing Council claimed they did not have the funds to maintain the land. The site maintenance stopped. Changing rooms were vandalised.
In 2014 the Save Warren Farm (SWF) group emerged. They raised money and fought the QPR deal, a deal which - among many other points the group raised - would have stopped public community access, gifting valuable Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) to a private company for 200 years. A Judicial Review was sought against LBE on the grounds that LBE had acted unlawfully in disposing of Warren Farm. The Judicial Review was turned down. QPR were expected to start works on Warren Farm, but no works began and speculation arose as to whether QPR could afford to proceed with their plans.
In 2016, SWF applied to register a footpath across Warren Farm as a Public Right of Way. Ealing Council refused the application. An appeal to the Planning Inspectorate was rejected the following year.
In 2016, QPR had their Planning Permission extended by 4 years, with their original plans for Warren Farm scaled back and with the introduction of landfill planned across the site.
In 2017, Ealing Council introduced a new waste collection scheme which meant all households required new wheelie bins. The bins were stored on Warren Farm. They were set on fire twice that same year.
In 2019, Hanwell nature emerged, where Warren Farm had been abandoned, nature had reclaimed the site. QPR’s ecological surveys concluded that Warren Farm was ‘species poor’ and of ‘little to no ecological value’. Evidence was gathered which challenged this assertion. Fundraising began and Judicial Review granted on the basis that Ealing Council failed to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
In 2020, Ealing Council pulled out of the Judicial Review hearing. It’s reported that they did not want to waste taxpayers money defending the Judicial Review. QPR’s extended planning permission had run out prior to the hearing and QPR found an alternative site.
In the autumn of 2020, the Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS), a charity founded by Luke Fitzherbert in 1973 and whose aim is to protect and enhance Brent River Park (of which Warren Farm is part), released a new vision for Warren Farm Nature Reserve. Initially inspired by young conservationist Kabir Kaul, the BRCS forward-thinking vision asked Ealing Council to work with them in creating Warren Farm Nature Reserve, obtaining Local Nature Reserve (LNR) status for Warren Farm, Jubilee Meadow, Blackberry Corner, Trumper’s Field and Fox Meadow, with the future potential of adding the Imperial College London owned land and the Earl of Jersey’s Field. This would create one large Local Nature Reserve comprised of meadow habitats, with Warren Farm at its centre.
In 2020, the Warren Farm Nature Reserve organisation was formed. Our team, consisting of ecological experts and nature enthusiasts, fully support the BRCS vision. We have been been kindly asking Ealing Council to hold open and transparent communication with us so that together conversations can be held, based on meticulously gathered evidence, that will protect Warren Farm Nature Reserve and surrounding Brent River Park meadows for wildlife, humans and for future generations in line with their 2020 Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy. However…
Sadly as of 26th January 2023, Ealing councillors voted yes to dewilding over half of #WarrenFarmNR. Councillors voted yes to the extinction of over a quarter of London’s breeding Skylark population and yes to contributing towards the extinction of rare plant species we have recorded growing here.
The amazingly brilliant news is in response to this highly unpopular decision our petition quickly doubled to 20,000 signatures and growing, a number of high-profile and notable wildlife organisations, charities and individuals have voiced their support for our campaign to see Warren Farm Nature Reserve receive Local Nature Reserve designation in its entirety and our family-friendly protest saw hundreds of our supporters join us outside Ealing Town Hall to give our wildlife under threat a voice they would not otherwise have. This is far from over and please be rest assured, our campaign is only just getting started! If you want to see biodiversity-rich meadows protected, please click here to sign our petition which remains open and together, let’s continue to show Ealing Council just how much support there is for Warren Farm Nature Reserve. Thank you.