What this case is about

Hounslow Council have given foreign-owned Lend Lease the go-ahead to develop a new high rise residential complex of 13, 8, 7 and 6 storey buildings on Chiswick High Road overlooking Turnham Green, despite widespread opposition.

The latest update

• Our first round of crowdfunding raised £20,000 and we launched a judicial review challenge in High Court for hearings on 29 July and full hearing on 29/30 September.

• The Court found on 28 October that all 5 grounds were ‘arguable’ but rejected the challenge

• New crowdfunding target of £20,000 now urgently needed to appeal the Court ruling.

• If the Council and the developers get away with this one then there will be nothing to stop them doing what they like in the future – and stopping them depends on your support!

What has happened?

Lend Lease bought the land from Clerical Medical for £24 million on 26th February 2014 and sought to take advantage of high residential property values in Chiswick by pushing through a dense, high-rise residential scheme and hiding the evidence and advice it had been given about the suitability of the site for development in accordance with local plans.

Opposition from local residents, all the local residents’ groups around the site, Sainsbury’s (who own the adjacent site with British Land), the Council’s own development plans and the evidence of what it was possible to achieve on this site were ignored!

Chiswick Buzz covered our first public meeting (on 9 July 2015)

The new high rise blocks will be crammed in on car parks beside the existing tower that will have extra height and width. The Manhattan-style invasion will dominate its surroundings and open the floodgates for more of the same: insensitive, unsupportable development motivated by the desire for short-term profit.

This is the development that LendLease are planning to construct in the heart of Chiswick

I am seeking - with the support of the community - to overturn the Council’s decision.

We truly believe that if this development is allowed to go ahead, it will not just dramatically affect our skyline; it will irreversibly destroy the heritage, character and community of Chiswick for us and for future generations.

Decisions like this must be stopped! Help us come together to defend our local environment and heritage.

The legal case so far

Our initial crowdfunding support enabled us to instruct a strong legal team. The case was heard on 29/30 September and our challenge was extremely well presented by Dan Kolinsky QC.

The process to the hearing on 29/30 September was more drawn out and therefore much more costly than expected and the original funding target was not enough to take us through this stage. There is a considerable shortfall which needs to be made up.

Judgment was given on 28 October. The Judge held that all 5 grounds of challenge were arguable but he then rejected each of those 5 grounds.

The judgment is extremely disappointing not just in the result but in failing to do justice to the very powerful arguments advanced on our behalf. We have at least a fighting chance on appeal but that fight will depend on whether we raise the funding which we need to pay the legal costs.

What’s the next step

We now need funding to cover the shortfall in our funding to date and to pay for the costs of pursuing an appeal.

Within 21 days we need to issue an application to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal. If this ‘paper’ application fails we can renew it orally.

One way or another there are very good prospects of succeeding on this application for permission to appeal. If it succeeds then there will be a full appeal hearing in the Court of Appeal, sometime next year.

We now need funding to take us through the stage of applying for permission to appeal, £20,000. If we are successful (as we are confident that we will be) then there will be a third stage of crowdfunding to take us through the appeal hearing itself.

What the funds will go towards

"It's not my case, it's everyone's case..." (Film by The Chiswick Calendar) 

I have lived in Chiswick for 17 years with my family, and I would like to see justice done here and to take the fight to the Council and developers to stop more and more inappropriate, over dense, high rise development. What has happened here is that the Council has engaged with the public in drawing up local plans and policies and has then ridden roughshod over them when allowing a development that is plainly inconsistent with those policies. We cannot allow that to go on.

I'm bearing the risks of the litigation but I am appealing to the community for help with some of the costs. I need to raise a further £20,000 towards the fees of specialist solicitors Richard Buxton Environmental & Public Law and barristers Dan Kolinsky QC and Luke Wilcox of Landmark Chambers to fight this judicial review for the benefit of all residents of Chiswick. This sum will enable us to cover some of the unexpected shortfall between funding and costs to date and to take us through the application for permission to appeal (“PTA”). It would be wrong for us to appeal for contributions towards the costs of the appeal hearing itself until we know that we have succeeded on the PTA.

About the claimant

My name is Simon Kverndal. For 17 years my wife and I and our (now) two teenage sons have lived in the heart of Chiswick overlooking Turnham Green, a wonderful green space enjoyed year round by dog walkers, sunbathers, picnickers, joggers, child footballers and so many more. I care about the local community that lives and works in Chiswick that shares this very special place and am horrified by the prospect of it being dominated and disfigured by towering new 8 storey apartment blocks rising up alongside an existing unsightly block from the 60s (to which two more stories are to be added). I am a lawyer but not a planning lawyer and cannot believe that Hounslow Council can be allowed to give permission to a development which clearly contradicts their own planning policy: I am thoroughly committed to ensuring that justice should be done by overturning its decision.

Fast facts

### Name of case The Queen (on the application of Simon Kverndal QC (Claimant) -v- London Borough of Hounslow Council (Defendant), with Lend Lease Limited (Interested Party) ### What's at stake The future of Chiswick is at stake! - Ensuring that planning decisions are made with proper consultation and proper consideration for the future Chiswick and the community that lives and works there. - Preventing inappropriate, high-rise, over dense, unsustainable development in and around Chiswick Town Centre. ### What's the next step We now need funding to cover the shortfall in our funding to date and to pay for the costs of pursuing an appeal. Within 21 days we need to issue an application to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal. If this ‘paper’ application fails we can renew it orally. One way or another there are very good prospects of succeeding on this application for permission to appeal. If it succeeds then there will be a full appeal hearing in the Court of Appeal, sometime next year. We now need funding to take us through the stage of applying for permission to appeal, £20,000. If we are successful (as we are confident that we will be) then there will be a third stage of crowdfunding to take us through the appeal hearing itself.