Court of Appeal rejects Twickenham rail station challenge

A member of local campaign group Twickenham Residents Action Group (TRAG) had launched a judicial review of the grant of permission because he claimed the Council's planning committee had failed to take into account a report on the proposals by Twickenham Advisory Panel (TAP), a panel set up by the Council.

The Council granted planning permission to the redevelopment proposals by Solum Regeneration Limited in 2011. TRAG brought a challenge in the High Court last year, however the judge held that the Council had followed the correct process and that the decision to grant permission had been properly made.

TRAG was subsequently given permission to appeal on the grounds of whether the planning committee had given adequate consideration to the report by TAP.

The report by TAP had been submitted prior to the planning committee meeting in December 2011. An addendum to the committee report referred to the TAP report and stated that it had not been submitted against the planning application and therefore was not considered material to the consideration of the application.

Lord Justice Richards said that it was clear that the TAP report related to the planning application and that it was intended to be taken into account by the planning committee. He said that he was "very surprised" that the committee members had been advised not to consider the report and that he was "deeply unimpressed" by the way the Council had handled the report.

"I am not persuaded, however, that the resulting failure of the planning committee to take the TAP report into account amounted to a breach of the statutory duty to have regard to material considerations," Lord True said.

He said that the report contained nothing capable of affecting the committee's conclusion that the proposal accorded overall with the Council's development plan or its findings relating to specific local policies.

"There is no real possibility that the planning committee would have reached a different conclusion if the report had been taken into account," he said. "The way the report was handled was highly unsatisfactory, but did not render the grant of planning permission unlawful".

The Court of Appeal's judgment was welcomed by Richmond Council.

“I welcome the Court’s decision today and I hope that we can finally lay this matter to rest and move forward with creating a train station that is fit for purpose," said Council leader Lord True.

“Twickenham station is a disgrace and whilst this whole process has resulted in massive delays to the developers’ schedule, I now hope that they can make enough progress to be able to deliver a 21st century station in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2015, when the eyes of the world will be on our town," Lord True said.

“This Council and other key stakeholders are investing millions of pounds into improving Twickenham after a generation of neglect. It is time to proceed," he added.