JR+outcome


 * The Courts have not heard the last of Wards Corner and its Community**

On Tuesday 14th of July 2009 Mr. Keith Lindblom QC rejected the case against Haringey Council’s decision to approve controversial plans by developer Grainger Plc for Wards Corner, Seven Sisters.

Despite losing the first round of the legal battle, the WCC has vowed to keep fighting on to ensure the right outcome for Wards Corner and its community is achieved. This has moved the campaign on to new levels and the claimant in the case will now seek leave to appeal the Judge’s decision.

Now more then ever we must prove Haringey Council’s decision to pass the Grainger plan was unjust. We had argued in court that the chair of the planning committee, Councillor Sheila Peacock, was biased towards demolition and that the Council had failed to discharge its duties to adequately consider the impact of the development on race equality. But the Judge decided to rule against the claim and the WCC were left feeling that the test for demonstrating bias was set impossibly high, while the test for compliance with the Race Equalities Act was set excessively low.

The Judge ruled local authorities can achieve what is required with regard to Race Equalities even if not conscious of Race Equality duties. This interpretation of Equalities law in Planning would not be acceptable in other public service processes and the WCC see this as an unduly narrow interpretation of the law given the enormous impact large scale developments have on people’s lives.

Subject to funding and securing the Court of Appeal’s permission, John Halford of Bindmans and David Wolfe of Matrix Chambers are ‘very keen to appeal, partly as the case sets an unhelpful precedent, but primarily because [they] do not consider the outcome to be the right or just one.’

The Wards Corner Community Coalition are fighting to prevent the demolition of public place and displacement of people. Fundamentally this is a grassroots campaign that aims to remove the barriers of inequality and reclaim the right to Place and involvement in the Planning process. We must demand for and encourage processes that push for progressive social and spatial justice in response to urban decline. We must not allow public authorities and private developers to have exclusive rights to say what is in our best interest and to displace those people they claim the development is meant to help.

In the Tottenham Journal (16/07/09) David Walters, of Grainger, is quoted as saying: "Now the court has confirmed the permission is valid we are back on track, and able to continue to work to deliver our vision for making the regeneration of Seven Sisters the success the community deserves." Let’s be clear this is Grainger’s vision for Seven Sisters, and not a vision developed through real collaboration between all interested parties – parties that should have included said community!

This quote is also another example of how Grainger and others like to imply that our Judicial Review has delayed their plans and is causing more uncertainty for the people of Seven Sisters. In fact they are on record - eg they have written to the shop owners - that they have no plans to begin work before 2011.

The WCC would like to thank everybody for their invaluable support, which is the campaign's inspiration.


 * The Wards Corner Community Coalition**

p.s. Neither the claimant (WCCC) nor the community is liable for defendants’ (Grainger's) costs as this is covered by Legal Aid. This Legal Aid was secured by the communities pledge to part-fund the Legal Aid so a big thank you to all those that financially contributed to the case! We will continue to fundraise to enable the case to continue.