Local residents who oppose the plan to build a temporary theatre in Ealing’s Walpole Park say they are “more fired up than ever” after a council meeting last week where Labour councillors blocked a Liberal Democrat motion to abandon the plan.

A member of campaign group Save Walpole Park, Marc Goodchild, told Ealing News, “those of us in the room and who watched the meeting remotely are now more fired up than ever to defeat this unsolicited, untested, back-of-a-fag-packet proposal”.

That proposal is that Troubadour Theatres – which already runs venues in Wembley Park and Canary Wharf, and will open a third on the Greenwich Peninsula next year – will build a 1200 capacity theatre space in Walpole Park in the West London borough, which will then operate for three years.

Announcing the plan last month, Council leader Peter Mason said that “such a big, new cultural attraction could boost our local economy and job opportunities”, while also “helping more people enjoy incredible live entertainment on their doorstep at more affordable prices”.

The theatre plan is still subject to a public consultation and planning permission application, but with local opposition on the rise and three petitions getting more than 8000 signatures, Liberal Democrat Councillor Connie Hersch proposed a motion at last week’s council meeting seeking to stop the proposals from moving onto the consultation stage.

According to MyLondon, Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Green groups have all expressed concern that building the temporary theatre within the park will “destroy vital green space, generate severe noise and traffic congestion, and endanger local wildlife”, and also jeopardise the longstanding Ealing Summer Festivals that already take place in the park each July.

Council leader Mason defended the plan during last week’s meeting, saying the temporary Troubadour Theatre would be a test for cultural regeneration that could be valuable for the borough. He told the meeting, “our high streets are dying” because of “the rise of internet shopping competition and the lack of destination venues”.

Cultural regeneration can counter that, but “before a theatre company is going to invest tens of millions of pounds” in a new venture, “they will need to understand whether a community like Ealing can sustain it”. The Walpole Park project, he insisted, will allow that to happen.

With the theatre plan now proceeding to consultation, those local groups that oppose the proposal are likely to become even more vocal. They have already requested that the petitions against the plan be discussed at a future council meeting, suggesting a special extraordinary meeting be called to do just that.