A property management company has won a court battle over land it owned that was compulsorily purchased to make way for Brentford FC’s brand new stadium.
Pro Investments Limited were the owners of land containing Capital Court, a disused office block on Capital Interchange Way in Brentford, to the west of the Chiswick roundabout near Kew Bridge.
In 2014, the London Borough of Hounslow compulsorily bought the site from Pro Investments to build the stadium.
However, the price hasn’t yet been set as Pro Investments and Hounslow are in dispute over the value of the land.
To work out the value, there has to be a determination on what could have been built on the land had it not been compulsorily purchased.
In January last year Pro Investments told the council it could have obtained planning permission for a residential block with 309 units on the space.
But the council disagreed, and in March last year said a more likely outcome was a residential block of 80 units plus 1,500 to 2,000 sq m of office space.
Pro Investments disagreed, and appealed to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) for a ruling.
And in a decision handed down earlier this week, the tribunal ruled against the council’s offer saying that Pro Investments could have got planning permission for more than double the number of flats proposed by the council.
“We are satisfied that a mixed residential and commercial scheme, including 205 apartments in buildings of eleven, nine and seven storeys with ground floor employment space would have been likely to receive planning consent,” the rulings said.
“In our judgment such a scheme would have balanced the Borough’s need for regeneration and for high-quality housing with the need to avoid harm to heritage assets.”
Meanwhile, the building of the new stadium is well under way with the club scheduled to move out of Griffin Park, it’s home for more than a century, in time for the 2020 season.
Pro Investments Ltd -And- London Borough of Hounslow
Re: Land at Capital Interchange Way Brentford
Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (Martin Rodger QC, Deputy Chamber President, and Mr P D Mccrea FRICS)
Guy Roots QC and Merrow Golden, instructed by Gateley Plc for the claimant. Timothy Mould QC and Andrew Byass, instructed by Taylor Wessing LLP for the respondent.
