https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-our-dark-skies/

We're going to court on May 2nd with our case involving the lights from the sports hub.

Lots of work has been done but still need your support!

Please look to our new CrowdJustice page and contribute what you can. You can view the new page here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-our-dark-skies/

Thank you!

The High Court has today ruled that Elmbridge Borough Council’s scheme to develop a ‘sports hub’ at Waterside Drive by the Thames in Walton, was unlawful. The site is a large area (14 Ha) of Green Belt land which used to consist of a small playing field for Walton Casuals FC, a large grassed area, and scrub, overlying an old landfill site. The Council planned to ‘remediate’ the landfill site and redevelop this open space with a facility for three private clubs including artificial playing fields, a stadium, an athletics track and floodlighting. The entire site was to be enclosed by high fencing to prevent public access to the grounds, with a pathway for dog walkers around the perimeter fence. This was part of a grand scheme so as to be able to sell off the Walton and Hersham FC ground and athletics track at Stompond Lane, Walton, for profitable housing.

The judicial review case was brought by Amanda Boot, a resident across the Thames in Sunbury, who was concerned about the effects on her and other residents’ views, as well as noise and light pollution.  The basic rule for development in Green Belt is that it should be not be ‘inappropriate’, which means not causing ‘harm to openness’. Andrew Parkinson, counsel for Ms Boot, argued that that the Council had unlawfully decided when granting itself planning permission that there was harm to openness but that the harm was acceptable. Mr Justice Supperstone agreed that this was an unlawful approach and the matter must be re-determined.

Ms Boot said:  “I am so pleased that the judge saw fit to rule in our favour on the grounds of this being inappropriate and harmful development in the Green Belt.  A huge thank-you to Richard Buxton and his legal team and to everyone else who supported us through CrowdJustice.”

Andy Smith, Surrey Branch Director of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said “CPRE has supported the local campaign against this development since 2015, so we are delighted with today’s judgment. It is vital that we oppose unwanted, unnecessary and inappropriate developments like this, especially when they threaten the openness of the Green Belt and destroy local tranquility. The fact that Elmbridge Council gave itself permission for this Sports Hub development, disregarding Green Belt planning constraints, was a major concern for CPRE and we are pleased that the High Court judgment reflects this.”

Alan Smith, speaking on behalf of Walton and Hersham Football Club, which the Council is trying to evict from its ground at Stompond Lane, said: “This result shows just how ill-thought out the Council’s plans are for sports in Walton and how wrong it is to want to sell off our ground for housing. We and our supporters want to stay put and that is far better for residents and the various other clubs affected.  In any case the Council cannot now guarantee us moving to an equivalent ground as required by Sport England.”

The Council started the work knowing that a challenge was being bought and continued with it even after the High Court granted permission to bring the claim. Remarkably, the Council has even now refused to stop work on the development site despite the fact that it now has no planning permission. Richard Buxton, the solicitor for Amanda Boot, said: “In 25 years’ experience of these types of case I have never had any defendant, let alone a council, not immediately abide by a ruling of the High Court like this. The conduct is appalling, offensive to law-abiding citizens, and I can but trust that members of Elmbridge Council  will call for an immediate halt to the development when they meet in committee shortly.”

If the Council fails to call a halt to the development, there will be a further hearing in the Court.  

The judicial review was heard in the High Court on Tuesday 6th December. Mr Justice Supperstone listened carefully to argument from our barrister, Mr Andrew Parkinson from Landmark Chambers, and then to Neil Cameron QC representing Elmbridge BC.  Unusually in this case the Council are the Planning Authority, the landowner and the developer. The judge reserved his judgment and we expect that this will be handed down in the next few weeks. 

Mean while the Council are continuing with the works, pouring concrete and building the Elmbridge Sports Hub at Waterside Drive. They have an alternative planning permission waiting in the wings in the event we are successful and the High Court quash the earlier impugned decision to permit this development on a 14 ha greenfield site by the river Thames.  

Kristina Kenworthy, Chair of the Surrey Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England in support of us said, “This is an important Green Belt case and relies on the correct interpretation of the NPPF paragraph 89.  We are very concerned about the urbanising effects of these developments encroaching on precious green spaces under the guise of exempted outdoor recreational facilities. A sports pavilion sounds innocent enough but when considered with all the other paraphernalia to accommodate three private clubs, a very different picture emerges. We cannot think that the government meant the Green Belt could be sacrificed just because the sports are played in the open air. The important point about Green Belt land is keeping it open permanently. 

We will update this page as soon as we have judgment.

Thank you for your support. 

Elmbridge Council seem to realise they are in trouble with this case and should never have granted planning permission for the development on the basis that it was “not inappropriate” in the Green Belt. They have been remediating the old landfill site (to which there can be no objection) but want to carry on with completing the sports hub before the Court has time to stop them.  

The judicial review case is coming up on 6 December and with the prospect of the planning permission being quashed, and the work forced to stop, Elmbridge recently put in a new planning application (to itself) which is the same as the existing one but with some quite minor amendments, and then asked the Court to adjourn the hearing of the case until after the new application was decided sometime next year.

Mr Justice Ouseley in the High Court last week would have none of this ruse: the request for an adjournment was refused.

We need to get on and win the case on 6 December and ensure that the site is open land and available for the public. Although that bit of the case is relatively straightforward, we are fighting a council that, in reality, carries the baggage from its previous administration. Under the former leader, who lost his seat in May, the council was hell-bent on putting the Sports Hub at Waterside Drive in order to be able to sell off the football ground at Stompond Lane nearer the centre of Walton for housing. 

The two projects are remain inextricably linked and more complicated legal work is needed to ensure that there is a lawful and sensible outcome.  Councillors need to understand that there is nothing legally or politically forcing either the sale of Stompond Lane or the move of the clubs to Waterside Drive. If the case succeeds, work has to stop on the Sports Hub, and it would be a crying shame if the Hersham and Walton Football Club has been needlessly evicted from Stompond Lane and the site levelled in readiness for 52 houses - for which there is no permission yet.  

Funding has been coming in, Thank You everyone who has contributed so far, but we are still well short of what is needed. This is perhaps partly because residents around Stompond Lane are fearful that this is a done deal and there is nothing to fight for. But that is not the case. London Square’s offer is, we believe, conditional upon getting permission for housing at a higher density. The football club can only be torn down if Waterside Drive is ready and so, in the event we win on 6th, everything will be back in play. The loss of the old Sports Ground at Stompond.Lane has far reaching implications for residents of the former Ashley Estate in leafy Walton on Thames.  

So, continuing help will be much appreciated. We are fighting in the interests of people from both sides of the Thames, in Sunbury and Walton, who appreciate the Green Belt, who see it as quite wrong for the open space at Waterside Drive to be enclosed, and who also see potential overdevelopment, including serious traffic problems, at Stompond Lane. Together we can make Elmbridge councillors re-consider this Sports Hub project and and find ways to protect our very special environment in the interests of everyone. 

PLEASE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THIS CASE BY PLEDGING AND SHARING WITH OTHERS. THANK YOU.