London borough given green light to challenge approval by mayor of hotel scheme

The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea has been given permission to bring a legal challenge over London mayor Sadiq Khan’s approval of a major hotel redevelopment.

Kensington & Chelsea rejected the initial planning permission application for redevelopment of the Kensington Forum Hotel following complaints from residents. The application was called in by Mr Khan, who approved it after the developers offered to include more social housing.

The High Court has agreed that Kensington & Chelsea has an arguable case for judicial review brought on grounds that the mayor acted with improper purpose by not allowing the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government the opportunity to consider calling in the application following his resolution to grant planning permission.

The council's Lead member for planning, Johnny Thalassites, said: “We are backing residents all the way, challenging a decision by the mayor to grant planning permission against the wish of the community.

“We will be proceeding with the judicial review, now that the judge has said our case is ‘plainly arguable’. 

“I’m keen to see new developments that create jobs and generate income but they cannot come at the expense of residents, who have genuine concerns about the plans for Kensington Forum Hotel.”

Developers Queensgate Investments and Rockwell plan to convert the present 906 bedrooms hotel into one of 749 rooms with 340 serviced apartments and a conference centre, restaurants, bars, health spa and conference facilities.

It will also provide 62 homes, which it agreed with Mr Khan will all be social housing.

A statement by the developers in July said Mr Khan had “rubberstamped” its application.

Mr Khan said he had intervened to more than triple the 20 homes for social housing than had been in the original planning application.

He said: “Kensington & Chelsea has consistently failed to meet the mayor’s housing targets in recent years, and the mayor has pushed his planning powers to their limits in order to deliver more affordable homes in the borough.”

Mark Smulian