The Law Lords are to rule this Thursday on the long-running battle to block a development scheme for Fulham football club’s Craven Cottage ground.
Protestors object to the £7 million development plan for the site, which includes a 15,000-capacity, all-seater stadium and 142 riverside apartments.
The protestors, led by local resident Lady Dido Berkley, are challenging an Appeal Court decision in February 1998 giving the plan the all clear. The Appeal Court had backed a March 1997 High Court ruling, which had approved the development.
In their Appeal Court challenge, Lady Berkley and other objectors claimed that former Environment Secretary John Gummer did not fully consider the impact the scheme would have on the Thames river frontage, which is part of a nature conservation area. They also argued that a full environmental statement should have been called for prior to assessment of the impact.
The Appeal judges ruled that there were “blemishes” in the procedure through which the planning consent was obtained and that Gummer had failed to consider the need to prepare an environmental statement as required under European law.
Nevertheless, they held that there had been a thorough inquiry into the scheme and that the environmental statement would not have effected the outcome anyway.
EGi News 03/07/00
