London borough to become interested party in legal challenge over 850-home Peckham redevelopment refusal

Berkeley Group launched its challenge in June, claiming the inspector ignored provisions in the National Planning Policy Framework on housing land supply and the presumption in favour of development, among other things.

Southwark has now announced that it will appear as an interested party in the proceedings after previously expressing support for the Planning Inspectorate's refusal.

The London borough’s Deputy Leader, Cllr Victor Chamberlain, said the council was "pleased to see" the inspectorate’s decision, adding that Southwark was “happy to cooperate and offer evidence to ensure the judicial review lands on the same verdict if it goes ahead”.

He said: "With a housing waiting list of 23,000 in Southwark, the proposal from Berkeley Homes comes nowhere near providing enough affordable housing for local people, and we will not allow developers to push the needs of our communities aside."

Berkeley applied for permission to redevelop the shopping centre in 2024. But Southwark left the application undetermined, leading the developer to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The inspector ultimately dismissed the appeal in May this year, concluding that harm to nearby heritage assets and Peckham's townscape outweighed the scheme's benefits.

Announcing the judicial review challenge in June, Berkeley's executive chair, Rob Perrins, criticised the inspector's decision as "clearly flawed" and one that "will undermine the Government's housebuilding agenda".

The claim advances five grounds, including a claim that the inspector failed to consider deliverability of the “myriad” of alternative design solutions to which he referred, and whether they could deliver the site allocation requirements.

The inspector also failed to consider part of the NPPF which mandates a strong presumption in favour of sustainable development, and failed to take into account Southwark's housing land supply, according to the claim.

Adam Carey