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The High Court has dismissed a claim for judicial review of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s decision to grant planning permission and listed building consent for a 270sqm basement beneath the garden of a 5-storey townhouse in Holland Park. The basement – described as ‘very, very large’ by the Case Officer and ‘monumental’ by the Chair of the Council’s Planning Committee - would accommodate (inter alia) a 14m swimming pool, changing facilities, lobby, gym and wine store. The claim, which was made by an immediate neighbour, was brought on the basis that in deciding to issue the consents the Council (i) had failed to have regard to the PPG on noise, alternatively that it acted irrationally in deciding that the noise impacts on neighbours over a 63 week construction period would be acceptable; and (ii) had failed properly to understand and apply Policy CL7 of the Council’s Local Plan – the Council’s bespoke basement policy. The High Court (HHJ Jarman KC) dismissed the claim following a substantive hearing, concluding that although there was no mention of the PPG in the Officer’s Report to Committee it was clear that the Council had properly assessed the scheme’s construction noise impacts, and that it had properly understood and applied Policy CL7.
A copy of the judgement is available here.
Robert Walton KC acted for Imperium Corporate Directors Group, the applicant for the consents, instructed by Mishcon de Reya LLP
