The owner of Waitrose is set to appeal a planning decision over its proposal to build 400 homes above a Waitrose store in West Ealing, London, which has been overdue for almost a year.

The John Lewis Partnership, which includes upmarket grocer Waitrose and high street retailer John Lewis, is filing an appeal on ‘non-determination’ as its application is still being reviewed by Ealing council despite waiting almost a year for approval.

The application, which the company is calling for to be considered by a planning inspector, comprises 428 homes – including 83 affordable rental homes – and shared areas for fitness, work and socialising, as well as more than 36,500sq ft of green space.

The partnership has said it is aiming to be on site in late 2025 and complete its redevelopment work in 2029.

The partnership said it believes in the “broad-reaching benefits in creating vital new housing and a community space in West Ealing, while investing further into our retail estate”.

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It added it was certain an appeal would grant permission for the redevelopment and added it will continue to work with the council and local community on social and charitable initiatives if the plans are approved.

JLP director of build-to-rent Katherine Russell said: “We have taken the decision to appeal for non-determination of our planning application to build new rental homes nearly one year on from first submitting it to Ealing Council.

“Our proposals will create hundreds of homes at a time when all political parties agree there’s a desperate need for more housing and local investment to spur economic growth, with a priority on brownfield land.

“An appeal is not something we take lightly, however, we believe we have strong grounds to be successful given the opportunity to transform an under-used brownfield site close to the publicly-funded Crossrail station with new homes and investment that will benefit the wider community.”

Abrdn, which has a £500m joint venture with JLP, head of operational real estate James Dunne added: “We remain fully committed to our strategy of creating thousands of critically needed quality rental homes alongside John Lewis Partnership and look forward to the outcome of the ongoing due process in West Ealing.”

It comes as last month, Asda unveiled plans for a “transformational” mixed-use redevelopment of its ten-acre site in northwest London, featuring up to 1,500 proposed new homes.