Court of Appeal refuses permission for appeal over council approval of plan to build 110-home development
The Court of Appeal has refused a residents’ group permission to appeal in a dispute over the lawfulness of Lewisham Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the construction of more than one hundred homes on the Sydenham Hill Estate in South London.
The London borough first approved the plans, which will also see the demolition of Mais House and Otto Close garages, in November 2020.
However, a group of residents who live on the estate, acting under the name Friends of Mais House, launched a judicial review challenge of the decision.
The case came before Mrs Justice Lang in April 2021, who decided that the planning permission should be quashed.
A revised planning application was then submitted, which was approved by the council’s strategic planning committee.
In response, the residents applied to the High Court for a second judicial review.
They argued that Lewisham had misunderstood policy, had no evidence and acted unreasonably in asserting that the scheme was the ‘optimum viable use’, and a smaller scheme the objectors might have accepted was not viable, among other claims.
Mr Justice Fordham dismissed the challenge in a judgment handed down in July 2022.
Following the decision, the claimants set out their grounds of appeal, arguing that it was not shown that the planning application was the least harmful plan that could be viable for the estate.
They also claimed that the residents’ group was not aware of the existence of a letter from the London Wildlife Trust which expressed “serious concerns about the applications”.
“Although the London Wildlife Trust had recorded on Lewisham’s online comments system that they had emailed Lewisham Planning a letter of objection, that email was not read by Planning and therefore not taken into account or its existence made known to the Planning Committees,” the group said.
The claimants filed for an appeal in August 2022, but the Court of Appeal refused the application.
In an announcement made last weekend (11 September), Friends of Mais House said it was “saddened to share the news” that the application had been refused.
“This has come as a shock to campaigners and lawyers, who all agree there is a strong case for an Appeal. A meeting is being arranged with the legal team this week.”
It added: “While we’re considering our options, we urge supporters to write to your elected representatives and urge them to intervene. It’s not too late to stop this massively insensitive and environmentally damaging over development. Lewisham themselves have now stated that the Friends represent ’a large swathe of the local community’. It’s time they listened to that community.”
Adam Carey
