Jolly Boatman Legal Challenge

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I am seeking a judicial review of Elmbridge Council's decision of 18th June 2009 to approve the planning application by Gladedale Homes (local authority reference 2008/1600) for the development of the Hampton Court Station and Jolly Boatman sites.

I believe that Elmbridge Council has failed to take account of the special importance of Hampton Court Palace, and failed to follow the procedures in set out government guidance PPS25 on development and flood risk.

Papers were lodged in the High Court on 14th September 2009.

LATEST NEWS

10th August 2010: The Guardian, Piece by Piece

The Guardian has today included my legal challenge in its "Piece by Piece" database of local campaigns for the protection of the UK's natural environment. Click here to go to my "Piece by Piece" entry.

4th August 2010: Private Eye update on legal challenge

Private Eye has published an update today about my legal challenge following the recent hearing in the Appeal Court, the withdrawal of the Star & Garter Home, and the continued refusal of Elmbridge Council to release the viability report, despite the recent ruling of the Information Commissioner.

Click here to read the article.

29th July 2010: Protective Costs Order Granted

I was granted a Protective Costs Order (PCO) today at a hearing in the Appeal Court in front of Lord Justice Lloyd, Lord Justice Richards and Lord Justice Sullivan. My cost exposure at the forthcoming judicial review (if I lose) will be limited to £5,000. Elmbridge Council's exposure will be limited to £35,000. The decision overturns the refusal of my application for a PCO by the High Court in March. Costs of £15,000 were awarded against Elmbridge Council, who had opposed my application for a PCO.

12th July 2010: Star & Garter Home pulls out of development

The Royal Star & Garter Home has today issued a press release saying that they are pulling out of the development. The Home had planned to move into a 65 room residential care home planned for the site after it vacates the building on Richmond Hill which it has occupied since its foundation at the end of the First World War. The Home cites delays and uncertainty surrounding the project as its reason for pulling out.

1st July 2010: Evening Standard article

The Evening Standard has published a story on my legal challenge. Click here to go to the story. Not a great photograph, but a fair summary of the current situation, excepting the fact that it is Elmbridge Council and Network Rail that have been delaying the proceedings, not me.

In a related development, the judicial review has been postponed from 8th and 9th July.

10th June 2010: permission to appeal granted

Lord Justice Munby today gave me permission to appeal against the refusal of my application for a protective costs order. My legal team and the legal teams representing Elmbridge Council and Network Rail are now agreeing a timetable for the appeal hearing, and other practical matters. The judicial review itself - the so-called "rolled-up hearing" - is due to take place at the High Court on 8th and 9th July.

15th May 2010: Elmbridge instructed to release viability report

The Office of the Information Commissioner has today instructed Elmbridge Council to make public a "viability report" submitted by Gladedale Homes in support of the their planning application in 2008. The viability report was withheld on the grounds that the figures are "commercially confidential". Click here to see the decision notice by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

15th March 2010: BBC Radio interview

Click here to hear my radio interview with Nick Wallis on BBC Radio Surrey today.

3rd March 2010: preliminary hearing

A preliminary hearing took place yesterday and today at the Royal Courts of Justice. The purpose of the hearing was to consider my application for a "Protective Costs Order" to protect me from the other side's costs if the judicial review is unsuccessful.

The application for the Protective Costs Order, heard by Justice Nichol, was turned down, and will now go to the Appeal Court for further consideration.

The question of my "standing" to bring the case (see entry of 11th December below) and the "substantive merits" of the case itself, will both be dealt with at what is called a "rolled up hearing", to be held at a later date.

21st January 2010: petition posted on Downing St web site

I have posted a petition on the 10 Downing Street web site. The petition reads:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to intervene to prevent the proposed development of the Jolly Boatman and Hampton Court Station sites, and to take steps have the Jolly Boatman site acquired in the national interest to protect key views of Hampton Court Palace

Click here to see the petition. NB: the petition is now closed.

11th December 2009: order issued by judge

A judge, George Bartlett QC, has now read the papers and has issued an order which concludes that Elmbridge Council made a legal error in deciding to approve the planning application. The judge believes that the Council failed to take sufficient account of the importance of preserving the setting of Hampton Court Palace.

In other words, the judge thinks that I may have a case against Elmbridge Council.

However the judge has also decided that I do not have sufficient "standing" to bring the legal challenge, because I did not object to the 2008 planning application.

(I sent an objection to the - almost identical - 2007 application, and wrote a letter to the Architects' Journal criticising both the 2007 and 2008 applications.)

However the judge recognises that I have a particular interest in preserving Hampton Court Palace, and that my views are in accord with those of many local people and groups, including Historic Royal Palaces.

In view of my clear interest in this issue, which the judge acknowledges, I have asked Richard Buxton to renew the application for judicial review, so that the question of my "standing" can be considered further.

The judge also considered my legal challenge to be an appropriate one for a Protective Costs Order.

Click here to read the order in full.

30th November 2009: BBC Radio interview

Click here to hear my recent radio interview with Nick Wallis on BBC Radio Surrey.

27th November 2009: Private Eye reports on legal challenge

Private Eye has today published an article about the Hampton Court Station site and my legal challenge.

Click here to read the article.

Funding the legal challenge

The legal challenge is potentially very expensive for me, even if the Protective Costs Order is granted. I cannot afford to keep the legal challenge going without support from members of the public.  

Details of the bank account I have set up to fund the legal challenge are as follows:

Cheques payable to "Jolly Boatman Legal Challenge" may also be sent to Richard Buxton Environmental & Public Law at 19b Victoria Street, Cambridge CB1 1JP. (Mark the envelope "For the attention of Lisa Foster".)

This account is solely for the purpose of paying my solicitors Richard Buxton Environmental and Public Law, and barristers Richard Drabble QC and David Smith of Landmark Chambers.

I have nothing personal to gain from bringing this legal challenge, which I believe is in the public interest.

Why I am interested in this issue

I was a consultant to Historic Royal Palaces for 10 years from 1994 to 2004. I am very grateful to the HRP for the opportunity to work at Hampton Court Palace.

When I was working at the HRP, I was involved in their attempts to prevent the development of the Hampton Court Station and Jolly Boatman sites. Like the HRP, I believe that areas of the sites surplus to railway requirements should be acquired in the public interest and landscaped.

I have posted a proposal for keeping the site free of harmful encroaching development on my web site here. In my view, Gladedale should ask their architects to design a scheme for the former Castle Hotel site opposite, rather than the Jolly Boatman site itself.

I will update this web page regularly so that members of the public can follow the progress of the legal challenge.

Keith Garner 23rd September 2009

keithwgarner@btinternet.com

Tel: 020 7585 0421

© Keith Garner Ltd 2010