High Court to hear judicial review of ITV studios redevelopment plans

A campaign group has won the go-ahead to bring a legal challenge at the High Court to the planning permission for redevelopment of the former ITV studios on London’s South Bank. Save our South Bank, advised by Richard Buxton Solicitors, has won permission to seek judicial review of secretary of state Michael Gove’s decision to approve the project, after leading planning judge Mrs Justice Lang ruled that it has an arguable case. In a court order paving the way for the case to proceed, with a date currently scheduled for mid-October, Mr Justice Lang said: “In my view, the claimant has raised arguable grounds which merit consideration at a full hearing.” Developer Mitsubishi Estate London and development manager Co-Re want to redevelop 60-72 Upper Ground, SE1, as a mixed-use scheme, including a 25-storey office building connected to two buildings of 14 and six storeys. The scheme won the backing of Lambeth Council in March 2022 and the Greater London Authority in August of that year. It was finally approved by Gove in February this year. Even so, the proposed redevelopment has been controversial. Critics dubbed the proposed building “the slab” and said it would be an eyesore that would overshadow the Queen’s Walk and wreck views of listed buildings such as St Paul’s Cathedral. Specifically, Save our South Bank argues that Gove’s decision was legally flawed and contradicted his recent announcements regarding housing priorities and reducing carbon. “The ‘Slab’ development not only threatens the enjoyment of millions walking the South Bank, as well as multiple protected views of national heritage, but also undermines efforts to address our city’s housing crisis while needlessly emitting over 100,000 tonnes of CO2,” said the group’s Michael Ball, a local campaigner advocating sustainable development and affordable housing. He added: “Gove’s decision, following the High Court ruling to quash refusal for the demolition of M&S buildings at Oxford Street, threatens to render toothless vital policy reducing carbon through the circular economy and recycling buildings. Our legal challenge may be the last chance to retrieve this catastrophe.” Image © Make Architects