Stokey Local campaigners seek funds for judicial review over council’s backing for Sainsbury’s plans

Stokey Local campaign banner. Photo: Hackney Planning Watch.

Stokey Local campaign banner. Photo: Hackney Planning Watch.

Stokey Local campaigners are seeking £5,000 by September 18 to fund a Judicial Review of the Wilmer Place Sainsbury’s decision made by Hackney Council.

Having lost out on the vote on July 31, when the Council’s planning sub-committee granted planning permission for the Sainsbury’s development to go ahead, the local campaigning group hope to prove that the Council’s decision-making process was flawed and over-turn it.

“The community has no right to appeal, but we can launch a Judicial Review if we believe the Council’s decision-making process was flawed: for example, if we can show that they took into account irrelevant considerations, or failed to consider information that they should have considered.

“If a Judicial Review is successful then the original decision is ‘quashed’ and it is as if planning permission had never been granted,” they stated in an email to ELL.

So far they have had pledges of £4,960 and are now seeking to convert those pledges into cheques. Nick Perry of Stokey Local submitted a formal ‘letter before claim’ on August 30 to the Council which can be read here.

In addition they are seeking a further £5,000 which in all will help pay for the costs of the solicitor and a contribution towards the potential costs of the Council should they lose.

The Sainsbury’s development in Wilmer Place has been the subject of ongoing criticism, by both locals and councillors, stretching over the last three years. The developers Newmark Properties LLP have subsequently redesigned their plans to accommodate the needs of those concerned.

The Council rejected the original plans last April, but a month later the developers submitted a new application, which aimed, according to a spokesperson of Newmark Properties, “to fully address the issues raised”.

For more info about the proposed Judicial Review please visit the Hackney Planning Watch website.

To view an interactive timeline of ELL’s three-year coverage of the campaign against the development of Sainsbury’s at Wilmer Place, please click here.

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