Old Chiswick Protection Society wins Judicial Review of LB Hounslow’s decision to build Hogarth Roundabout tower block

Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand

‘The Claimant’s claim succeeds and the Decision will be quashed’

Members of the Old Chiswick Protection Society (OCPS) have won the Judicial Review of Hounslow Council’s decision to build high rise tower blocks beside Hogarth Roundabout. OCPS Secretary Patricia Langley told The Chiswick Calendar they were delighted with the decision.

The High Court’s finding is 28 pages long and at the end, under the heading ‘Conclusion’ there is just the all-important one-liner:

‘The Claimant’s claim succeeds and the Decision will be quashed’.

At the Judicial Review hearing in the High Court on Tuesday 21 July heard by Her Honour Judge Emma Kelly, lawyers for the OCPS argued the Council’s officers had misled councillors on the Planning Committee who voted the development through.

READ ALSO: Hounslow planning officers accused of misleading councillors in Judicial Review of 1 Burlington Lane decision

Council planning officers told them a previous scheme turned down by the Council in 2023 was of “poor quality design” and would have offered “poor quality accommodation”.

They failed to tell the councillors the developer had subsequently appealed against that decision and won in 2024, and the Planning Inspector who heard the case considered the previous scheme to be of “high quality design” that would have offered “acceptable accommodation”.

The councillors therefore made their decision based on inadequate and misleading information.

The Officers’ Report recommended they accept the later proposal and councillors were told they did not need to go into the details of the Planning Inspector’s findings on the previous application.

Councillors on the Planning Committee voted for it 13-1. Chiswick councillor John Todd, since retired, was the only one to vote against it.

Visualisation of scheme viewed from Hogarth Roundabout; CGI Simpson Haugh Architects

Her Honour Judge Kelly says in her finding:

‘The overwhelming impression from the comments made by the councillors is that they had an overly negative view of the Fallback Scheme, [the 2023 application] no doubt because no one has explained to them in clear terms that the Inspector had rejected the officers’ conclusions about poor design quality and poor living accommodation, and far less had anyone explained why the Inspector came to that conclusion…

‘The OR [Council Officers’ Report] misled the Committee as to the Inspector’s conclusions on living conditions and design quality, such that the Committee was given a misleading picture of the merits of the Fallback Scheme…

‘The Committee therefore remained oblivious to the fact that the Inspector had rejected the officers’ judgments on the living conditions and design quality, still less did it know the basis for the Inspector’s decision on those topics’.

Old Chiswick – Photograph of the day by Bridget Osborne

Church Street in Old Chiswick

“We have won the battle but continue to fight the war”

The previous scheme would have been seven storeys high. The later proposal was for a complex partly six storeys high and party ten storeys.

Crucially, as far as the residents are concerned, the Planning Inspector said the previous design offered ‘an improvement on the existing townscape. It would enhance the character and appearance of the area, including the Chiswick House Conservation Area’.

The OCPS, who represent residents who live by the Roundabout in Old Chiswick and down Chiswick Mall, have argued from the start the most recent proposal for the site is too tall and would ruin the appearance of an historic area.

READ ALSO: Hogarth roundabout development gets go ahead

The OCPS decided to fight the decision after the London Mayor’s Office refused to intervene, and they launched a crowd funder to fight it in court. Their presIdent, Russell Harris KC happens to be a planning KC.

READ ALSO: High rise development beside Hogarth roundabout gets OK from Mayor of London

READ ALSO: Residents of Old Chiswick launch crowd funder to pay for Judicial Review of decision to allow ten storey development at Hogarth Roundabout

They raised £31,332 by crowd-funding.

Patricia Langley told The Chiswick Calendar:

“It is a very clear decision. We are delighted and relieved. It is the right decision. LBH’s decision was clearly wrong. The advice their lawyer gave councillors was wrong and the councillors therefore came to the wrong decision”.

But she acknowledged though they had won this battle, they have still to win the war.

So far, all Hounslow Council are saying is:

“We acknowledge the Court’s judgment and are carefully considering its implications.”

Picturesque Old Chiswick

What happens now?

The question is what happens now? It will go back to the Planning Committee, Patricia told us.

Planning for the seven storey ‘Fallback scheme’ is still extant. The developer who proposed it did not progress with it even though they won their appeal to get permission to build it. The developer who took over the site have had their permission to build quashed by the High Court.

“We now have to start all over again”, said Patricia.

They hope the developers will come back with a scheme that does not harm the heritage of the conservation area, but if they do, they plan to keep fighting.

Meanwhile the existing five storey building currently on the site continues to lie empty.

Judge slams Hounslow’s planning officers

There are some serious conversations to be had inside Hounslow Council over how the planning department conducts itself. Judge Kelly’s judgement was very critical of Hounslow’s planning officers:

‘Public confidence in the planning system is in large part dependant on officers presenting accurate reports to councillors. It benefits no one for officers to give advice or convey judgments, particularly as to material considerations, that they know to have been rejected by a planning inspector.

‘Councillors risk making flawed decisions in ignorance of material information. Objectors risk feeling deprived of a fair opportunity to engage in the planning process. Applicants inevitably end up frustrated with uncertainty and delay’.