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Campaign group loses High Court bid to halt Elephant and Castle development
A campaign group has lost its bid to force developers to halt a £2bn redevelopment scheme in south London on the basis that it would not provide enough social rent homes.
Campaigners raised thousands of pounds to fight plans by developers Delancey to build almost 1,000 homes at Elephant and Castle and took their case to the High Court.
Plans for the site include just 116 social rent homes, which campaigners said fell short of both Southwark Council’s thresholds and wider targets set by the mayor of London.
But of the 979 new homes set out in the plans, 330 meet London mayor Sadiq Khan’s definition of ‘genuinely affordable’ – which a judge found was sufficient for the redevelopment to proceed.
This ‘genuinely affordable’ definition included homes for London Living Rent, a tenure where tenants pay two-thirds of the average market rent rate of an area, and discounted market rent, a discounted rent tenure for build-to-rent developers where they must offer rents at no more than 80% of local market rent levels. The amount of social rent a tenant pays depends on location and size but typically will see discounts of around 40% to 50% on local market rents.
Delancey’s plans, which were first submitted in October 2016, have been subject to a number of revisions in order to increase the percentage of affordable homes available.
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Campaigners also said they feared for traders who have not been promised new premises after the demolition of a 55-year-old shopping centre that is on the site.
In March, Southwark Council said 36 of the local traders had accepted offers to move into a “new affordable space” very close to the shopping centre and that it was working on helping a further 28. However, campaigners say many are still being left out.
A decision on the challenge was made in the High Court at the end of last month by Mr Justice Dove, following a two-day judicial review hearing in October.
Delancey is now able to move forward with the demolition of the mall and the construction of new shops, homes and a new London College of Communication campus – part of the University of the Arts London – whose current 1960s building will be demolished.
Local resident Jerry Flynn of campaign group Up the Elephant, which lodged the judicial review in the High Court, said: “We are naturally disappointed the court has not found in our favour. We will be looking at the judgement very carefully with our lawyers and then deciding our next step, including the possibility of appeal.”
Johnson Situ, cabinet member for growth, development and planning at Southwark Council, said: “We recognise the concerns raised by some local people about aspects of the regeneration, and I would like to assure them, and the whole community, that we will continue to work with our residents, businesses and the developers to ensure no one is left behind.”
The campaign group that brought forward the challenge now has until the end of this month to confirm if it wishes to appeal the decision.
