A resident of the Cressingham Gardens Estate in south-east London has failed in a court bid to block Lambeth Borough Council’s plan to demolish and redevelop the estate.
High Court judge Holgate J dismissed Andrew Plant’s lawsuit today and refused him permission to appeal because he had little prospect of success.
Plant’s lawyer had attacked the council’s decision making process and had asked the judge to force Lambeth to reconsider.
“It is self evident from the papers before the court that views among the residents of Cressingham Gardens Estate are divided and that some are strongly critical of the defendants decision-making”, Holgate said in his ruling.
“It has to be emphasised that it is no part of the court’s role to become involved in the rights and wrongs of the competing arguments”, he said. “Instead its function is limited to the question of whether the consultation or decision-making has been vitiated by one or more errors of public law such that it is appropriate to quash the decision” to redevelop the estate.
He ruled that the decision making process was sound, and that the claim should be dismissed.
The council plans to demolish and rebuild the entire estate by moving all council tenants and using compulsory purchase powers to buy out any owners who don’t want to move.
The estate has 360 houses. It was built in the 1960s and is on the edge of Brockwell Park. Although it “is seen as a desirable place to live”, the judge said, it is costly to maintain.
Andrew Plant and Lambeth London Borough Council
David Wolfe QC and Leon Glenister (instructed by Leigh Day, Solicitors) for the Claimant
James Goudie QC and Jon Holbrook (instructed by Lambeth LBC Legal) for the Defendant
Administrative Court (Holgate J) 21 December 2016
