Campaigners have failed in a High Court bid to block a new Sainsbury’s supermarket and flat development they say will blight a picturesque part of Stoke Newington.
Nicholas Perry , who represents local campaign group Stokey Local, had hoped one of the country’s leading judges would scrap the plans to demolish Victorian properties in Wilmer Place, off Stoke Newington High Street, and replace them with the five storey development that he says will damage the Conservation Area and the adjoining Abney Park Cemetery.
However, Mrs Justice Patterson – who heard the case in London but today handed down her written judgment in Manchester – rejected all of his grounds of challenge to the scheme, which has now been approved twice by Hackney Council.
The proposal attracted almost 900 objections and a petition with more than 3,000 signatures ahead of the initial grant of planning permission in August 2013.
Despite Mr Perry launching a legal challenge to that decision, developer Newmark Properties issued an identical planning application and a second permission was granted on Valentine’s Day this year for the supermarket with 53 flats above it.
Mr Perry claimed that, on both occasions the Council granted permission, it failed to subject the proposal to the necessary scrutiny required by European law to determine whether a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was required.
And he complained that, in providing only nine flats that constitute “affordable housing”, the council fell well short of its policy target of requiring a 50 per cent level in new developments.
However, the judge said that the 50 per cent target in the development plan was “subject to site characteristics, location and overall viability”. She found that the council had properly carried out the necessary viability exercise, and been entitled to take the view that the lower figure was acceptable in this development.
She also dismissed Mr Perry’s concerns about the environmental assessment, adding: “No-one has suffered any substantial prejudice.”
Read more:
Fight against Sainsbury’s Stoke Newington development set to reach High CourtCampaigners launch second legal bid to stop flats and store in Stoke NewingtonVictory for campaigners fighting against plans for a Sainsbury’s in Stoke Newington
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