One of Europe’s foremost photographic studios has – once again – successfully blocked plans to turn a Victorian warehouse complex into shops and flats.
In a ruling handed down yesterday, High Court judge Mr Justice Dove quashed planning permission granted to property development company GHL Limited to develop land at Eagle Wharf in Hoxton, because the developer didn’t put important information in the public domain.
The challenge was brought by the leaseholder Holborn Studios. Eagle Wharf, which is beside Regent’s Canal, was built as an ironworks in the 1840s before becoming an explosives factory in the 1870s.
Since the 1990s most of the complex has been refurbished and used by Holborn Studios for photography and film work. The ruling said that Holborn Studios holds a 15-year lease for most of the site.
In 2017, the developer applied to partially demolish buildings on the site and replace them with commercial units and 50 dwellings. Hackney Borough Council approved the application in 2019.
As part of the application, the developers provided a Viability Assessment Report, but submitted it “on a private and confidential basis”. They put a redacted version online.
“It is not possible to understand the viability of the proposed development from the redacted version, since none of the figures relevant to the calculation of viability are contained within the document,” the judge said in his ruling.
“Drawing the threads together, the material contained in the public domain at the time when the decision was taken by the planning committee to resolve to grant planning permission was inconsistent and opaque,” the judge wrote.
“It contained figures which differed in relation to, for instance, benchmark land value and the differences between the figures were not explained.”
He said that “the material with which the public was provided” was not “adequate to enable the member of the public to make a sensible response to the consultation on the application.”
As a result, he quashed the planning permission.
This is the second time Holborn Studios has defended itself against the developer. In 2017 another High Court judge quashed planning permission for a similar development on the site because Holborn Studios had not been properly consulted.
According to yesterday’s judgment, before the case came to trial, the developer had withdrawn from the proceedings, leaving the council to defend its decision alone.
Holborn Studios Limited v London Borough of Hackney v GHL (Eagle Wharf Road) Limited
Planning Court (Dove J) 11 June 2020
