Breaking news: Conservationists lose High Court battle against Hampstead Heath ponds project
Members of the Heath swimming associations outside the Royal Courts of Justice. Eve Featherstone from the Kendwood Ladies Pond Association. Picture: Polly Hancock - Credit: Polly Hancock
The Heath and Hampstead Society has lost its High Court battle against the controversial £15million ponds project.
The judge, Mrs Justice Beverly Lang, rejected the conservation group’s judicial review challenge.
She announced her verdict at the High Court this morning – delivering a hammer blow to the hopes of conservationists desperate to save the Heath from being “permanently disfigured”.
They say the flood defences project is the greatest threat to the Heath in generations, but Mrs Justice Lang rejected their claims that it is irrational or legally flawed.
The City of London Corporation, which manages the Heath and has proposed the project, now has the green light to go ahead with its plans.
You may also want to watch:
However, the Corporation still has to win planning permission from Camden Council for its scheme to enlarge dams and build new ones across the Heath.
The Heath and Hampstead Society, which brought the judicial review proceedings, is likely to continue to vigorously oppose the project.
Most Read
- 1 Royal Free's critical care beds 98pc full as Covid-19 cases top 500
- 2 Is lockdown working in north London? Here's what the latest data tells us
- 3 Hospital staff describe 'distressing' battle against rising Covid cases
- 4 Joan Bakewell fires legal threat to government over second Covid jab
- 5 Camden man charged with prostitution offences and sexual exploitation
- 6 Mikel Arteta 'excited' by Arsenal's appointment of Richard Garlick
- 7 Lord's Cricket Ground used as Covid-19 vaccination centre
- 8 Housing: Billionaire owner of 'squalid shoeboxes' must 'up its game'
- 9 One in ten people without symptoms Covid positive at Haringey centres
- 10 Ice cream shop supporting freelancers opens in Primose Hill
Chairman Marc Hutchinson has previously indicated it will lobby Parliament to stop the scheme should the High Court challenge fail.
The City plans to begin work early next year. The scheme is expected to take about two years and will see significant engineering works across the Heath.
Visitors will be faced with construction and pond closures throughout much of that time.
More to follow.
