Plans for a five-storey development of a Sainsbury’s supermarket and 53 flats in Hackney are under challenge at the High Court.
Local man Nicholas Perry says that the scheme, which has now twice been approved by the London Borough of Hackney, has not been subject to the required level of environmental scrutiny and falls considerably short of the area’s affordable housing targets.
He is asking Patterson J to quash the two identical planning permissions issued to developer Newmark Properties in August 2013 and February 2014.
The scheme will involve demolition of four Victorian terraced buildings, with retail on the ground floor and housing above, as well as various business buildings behind them on a half-hectare site to the west of Stoke Newington High Street. In their place, a 16,000 sq ft ground-level food store will be built with 53 flats on four levels above it.
However, Perry says that only nine of those flats will be affordable – 17% of the total – falling far short of the council’s policy target of a minimum of 50% affordable housing.
He claims that the council failed to adopt a screening opinion in respect of the first grant of permission, and, in relation to the second, adopted a screening opinion which failed to consider the impact of demolition work and failed to take into account that the proposal had initially been rejected by the council in April 2013.
He says that the council failed to supply adequate reasons for either decision, and that the development will be harmful to heritage assets in the Stoke Newington Conservation Area, such as Grade II-listed Abney Park Cemetery and other listed properties.
Prior to the initial grant of permission, Perry says the council received 896 objections to the proposal, including from English Heritage, as well as a petition with more than 3,000 signatures.
Lawyers for the council and for the developers maintain that the decision was properly made and should stand.
Patterson J is expected to reserve her decision in the case.
The Queen on the application of Perry v London Borough Of Hackney Planning Court (Patterson J) 15 October 2014
