Judicial Review Papers Served

Stokey: we are amazing

Just five weeks ago, after we had recovered from witnessing the council approving the Sainsbury/Wilmer place development, we set ourselves the task of raising £5,000 from the community to launch a judicial review of that decision.

We have now received donations from over 100 people totaling in excess of £5,000 (but we still need to raise another £5,000). The majority of these donations have been of £50 or less, with dozens of small donations (£5 to £10) being of equal importance in demonstrating that we are a community united and determined to stop this development.

Judicial review served

Today, Nick Perry visited the High Court in the Strand and delivered the application for judicial review. We have already done what people thought we were not capable of. We have come together as a strong, united community and organised to raise the money necessary to start legal action to defend Abney Park Cemetery, the conservation area and the independent shops and unique culture of Stoke Newington. Well done us.

However, it is not over yet

We need to raise a further £5,000. We know lots of people have been awaiting the bank account details to be able to make transfers by telephone or postal banking: we still need £5,000. Our target is to find a further 100 people to make donations of £50, however, every little helps, and if you cannot afford £50, please feel free to send a smaller donation.

You can make donations through online or telephone banking:

Account name: Stokey Local Community Fund
Sort code: 08-60-01
Account number: 20316473

Let’s spread the word

We need to inform our community that the fight is still on and we have ordered 10,000 leaflets (see below). Many thanks to Hackney Planning Watch for funding these. Last time we needed to leaflet the area, we had over 60 volunteers delivering leaflets in their part of town. We are speaking up for Stokey, lets make sure we speak for the whole of Stokey.

If you can assist in delivering this next set of leaflets, please register here.

Appeal against the rejection of the first application

In April the Council voted to reject the first application by the developer, the developer lodged an appeal and then submitted their second ‘revised’ application. Several councillors on the planning committee indicated that they had voted to approve the second application because the developer had given an undertaking that if it was approved they would withdraw their appeal against the original refusal. The councillors’ view was that approving the second application (with its minor revisions) was a ‘least worst’ scenario. It may shock and even anger some people, but it will not surprise anyone to learn that the developer has not withdrawn their appeal.

The appeal will now be heard by a planning inspector, we don’t yet have a date. However, we are exploring the opportunities offered to us by this process. Suffice to say we will be seeking to engage with the appeal process (just in case the Council chooses not to defend its original decision very strongly). In fact an inspector’s inquiry could be a good thing, as it will decide the planning issues (as opposed to the procedural issues) and the inspector will most certainly prescribe the limits of any future development, something that the judicial review cannot do on its own.

What next?

It is going to be a hectic few days and then we will have to wait for the court to respond. In the meantime, we are planning to:

  • leaflet the whole of Stoke Newington
  • hold a meeting to inform and discuss next steps (Details to follow).
  • explore with interested parties the idea of a ‘stokey’ or ‘Hackney’ pound
  • organise some form of social event (suggestions welcome)
  • organise a twitter storm (where we get lots of people tweeting about the issue at the same time, which grabs people’s attention). If you are on twitter please follow @stokeylocal and regularly retweet some of the tweets.

What have we done?

Two years ago, when this development was first announced there were few who would believe that we could come together as a community to do what we have done: the petitioning, the zombie parade, the bug parade, the network of people prepared to distribute 10,000 leaflets, the meetings we have organised, the relationships we have built, the wide political support from the Greens, the Lib Dems and the local Labour councillors, the numbers who turned out at the council meetings, and now serving, not just talking about but actually serving, notice of judicial review.

Whatever else we think about Sainsbury’s we can say this they certainly showed us what we are capable of as a community. Did you not hear us? ‘Stokey said no’.

 

Stokey still says no

The battle is on!

But time is running out to stop Sainsbury’s plan to build a supermarket in the heart of Stoke Newington.

 

We can stop this!

The wonderful, energetic, creative and UNITED Stoke Newington residents and small shop owners are determined to stop this!

 

WE ARE APPLYING FOR A JUDICIAL REVIEW!

 

BUT we need funds to take on the supermarket giant.

 

In 3 weeks we have raised over

£5,000

but we still need another £5000 to fund the legal challange

We can reach this with 100 donations of £50.

Please give what you can

sticker.gif

This development will

• damage the ecology of Abney Park

• endanger local children

• clog our streets with cars & trucks

• threaten local shops

• damage a conservation area

Please help us keep local children, local shops and Abney Park safe from this threat.

#StokeyLocal

PLEASE ALSO FORWARD THIS EMAIL ON

stokeylocal.org.uk

 

3 Comments

  • Tony Evans

    So, since the developer hasn’t withdrawn the appeal to the original decision, is it possible that the JR will succeed but then pave the way for a successful appeal by the developer and we end up with the original plan that was the developer’s preferred design ie, the larger development?!

  • Nick

    The JR and the appeal run separately so the JR doesn’t in any way pave the way for the appeal. The JR itself may be appealed in Court, but that’s different to the planning appeal of the previous scheme.

    We expect the appeal to be withdrawn imminently anyway as they agreed with LBH they would do so. Though if they don’t we’d be happy to engage with it as, unlike the JR, it will discuss the merits of the planning application and may decide the matter once and for all.

    Nick

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