OPEN (Golden Lane) v City of London & Taylor Wimpey

We have had another amazing response from everyone who donated on the Crowd Justice page

Thank you so much for all your support. Without your generosity we could not have come so far.

Residents from the Golden Lane Community fighting the Denizen

On Friday we were notified by the Courts that they can allocate enough time on the 1st March for our hearing to make our case for a Judicial Review to a Judge in open court.

Taylor Wimpey’s solicitors, Dentons, have withdrawn their application for an adjournment and the hearing is going ahead as originally planned on 1st March.

Both TW and the City have chosen to send representatives so this is a three way battle.

CO/4631/2017 R (OPEN) v City of London & Taylor Wimpey

The Hon. Ms Justice Lang will hear the application


Last summer the Save Golden Lane Consortium formed the company OPEN (Golden Lane) Ltd which stands for Organisation for Promotion of Environmental Needs (Golden Lane).

The directors of the company are two local mothers who wanted to help the local community fight environmental and social injustice. The members of OPEN (Golden Lane) include the Chairs of the Golden Lane Residents Association and the Bernard Morgan Liaison Group.

We are not a big corporation with billions of pounds behind us. Just a group of local people who wanted to protect our community from the rampant greed of developers and this luxury block of flats which will overshadow our local park, school and homes. A luxury development which replaces police accommodation. A development which contains no social or affordable housing.   

Protest banners hanging from Bowater House balconies last year
during the Spectres of Modernism protest

Last week the Mirror On-Line published a piece which highlighted the lack of concern Taylor Wimpey has shown towards this community. The appalling lack of care taken to protect local children from the dangers of demolition toxic dust inhalation. And sadly the City could do nothing. This is an example of how TW has treated this community from the beginning.

TW said they would lose too much time if they stopped demolition
while Richard Cloudesley kids were dropped off and picked up
and they could only do this if the City allowed them
to work during 'quiet times' when construction begins

We are not against developments if they are designed to complement existing homes and provide decent social housing to benefit the whole community. We’ve had to rely on the generosity of people who care about communities and believe local people’s needs should not be ignored in local planning decision. We believe planning policies should be followed and not abandoned in favour of developers' demands.

Bowater residents with two of the banners hung from Bowater House last year
during the Spectres of Modernism protest

The hearing will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand WC2A 2LL. Please come and support us in person at the Public Hearing on Thursday. We will be notified on Wednesday afternoon the time and court number of the hearing and we will post the information as soon as we know.

This case has wide implications for other developments across the whole of London and the UK. If you have already donated please share the Crowd Justice link with at least 5 or your friends, it also really helps to post on social media pages.

The financial support from the public has been phenomenal but this is an expensive court case and we still need more help to reach our target.

With your support we can get justice for our community and others across London.

Further news articles can be accessed via the Golden Lane Estate website Press Coverage Page

Rampant greed is poisoning the whole of London

The demolition of the existing building is a grotesque waste of viable fabric and embodied energy, and completely unnecessary – illustrating the worst kind of retrogressive thinking  of the 1960s/70s. 

At least then developers might have been able to claim ignorance of the environmental ramifications of such wastage – but not now. It flies in the face of every article of good practice that the City as a socially responsible authority ought to be promoting. 

Unfortunately however the civic values that previously informed the creation of Golden Lane and Barbican have been superseded by the same rampant greed that is poisoning the whole of London. In the absence of any sense of urban propriety on the part of the City and the developers, resort to the law would appear to be the only remaining weapon in the struggle.

John Allan, Consultant Architect and author of the Golden Lane Estate Listed Building Management Guidelines

'Environmental ramifications' also includes the appalling pollution created by the toxic dust which Taylor Wimpey failed to contain during the demolition process, read about it here in this great Mirror On-line article

Unfortunately resorting to the law does seem to be the only weapon in the struggle to stop TW building this wasteful polluting unnecessary building. We have lost Bernard Morgan House but we can make sure it's replaced with real homes and not luxury cash boxes. Many of you have given generously already, but if you can, and no matter how small the amount, please make a donation on the Crowd Justice fundraising page.

Bernard Morgan House, now demolished
A police section house which provided accommodation for 110 police officers

For 55 years the City of London provided accommodation for Police Officers. Not any more. Now only an empty plot ready for property speculators to build unneeded luxury apartments.

The site where Bernard Morgan House stood

How times have changed.

The first picture was taken in 1956 when Bowater House was just being finished,
before work on Bernard Morgan House and the Jewin Church had begun.
The second picture taken in 2018 after Taylor Wimpey had demolished Bernard Morgan House

Post-war City of London town planners had the vision to transform the area bombed in the blitz into an exemplar of urban living. Incorporating the Golden Lane Estate and the Barbican. The dream of an urban village was realised. This is a close supportive community and we are fighting this battle together.

An original drawing for the Golden Lane Estate

Plans for the Barbican, note this drawing included Bernard Morgan House

The City of London needs to work out what is best for its community. There is just no need for more luxury ghost flats. The socially rented tower block accommodation crammed into the north site could be spread over both areas to provide decent social housing and key worker homes. Or even accommodation for police officers and nurses. Read about the CoLPAI planning application here

The proposed tower block north of the Golden Lane Estate

There have been 140 objections to the CoLPAI proposal. Objections based on official planning policies. The CoLPAI planning application goes before the Islington Planning Committee on 1st March at 7.30pm at Islington Town Hall. It will then go before the City of London Planning and Transportation Committee at a later date.

Please sign the petition to Save Golden Lane Estate AND Build Decent Homes

This 14 storey tower block is planned for the north of the estate.
The block is a fire risk with only one stairwell and open walkways and has no communal gardens. 

This has already been a long expensive legal battle and we now need more funds to enable our barrister to present our case at the forthcoming Court hearing where we are seeking permission to pursue our judicial review. The Court hearing was due to take place on 1st March, but Taylor Wimpey and the City have asked for more time than is available on that day, so we are waiting to hear if another date will be set.

Since we started the Crowd Justice page last year people have been extraordinarily generous. We have used the money raised to challenge the City’s grant of planning permission to Taylor Wimpey which is to redevelop Bernard Morgan Police Section House in a way which causes damage to our local homes, our school and our park, which fails to provide for adequate affordable housing and which damages our local architectural heritage.

All our objections are based on official planning policies and all have been overridden in favour of the developer, Taylor Wimpey.

The harm Taylor Wimpey's 'Denizen' will do can be seen in this picture.

Funds raised have paid for independent expert analysis of Taylor Wimpey’s overshadowing report which has revealed some extraordinary inaccuracies.

We have paid for our legal team to obtain and scrutinise all the documents relating to the sale of Bernard Morgan House to Taylor Wimpey and its planning application; to write the required pre-action protocol letter to the City of London setting out our concerns; to responding to the City and Taylor Wimpey’s replies; to preparing and issuing the Court claim for judicial review claim with all the supporting documents; to adding to the claim when the errors in Taylor Wimpey’s overshadowing report were revealed and to applying for a Court hearing of the issues.

There are complicated legal arguments which the City and Taylor Wimpey have been fighting us tooth and nail all along the way.

The legal process is long and complex but we must continue with our campaign. We believe we have an arguable case which should be heard in public. A national housing charity has recently written to the Court asking to join the claim if we are given permission at the Court hearing to pursue our claim regarding developers’ obligations to provide for affordable housing.

 We rely on the generosity of people in our community as well as people in the wider community who believe that the public need to be listened to and that public assets should be used for public benefit, and not for private commercial exploitation. We don't need any more luxury homes - there are hundreds left empty and unsold in the area. We want a new development  built on this site which has some public benefit, not just public detriment.

Many of you have given generously already, but if you can and no matter how small the amount, please make a donation on the Crowd Justice fundraising page

Together we can stop the Denizen

High Court Hearing for Permission to Proceed with Judicial Review

We now have the Court date for our application for judicial review.

The Court hearing is on 1st March at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand WC2A 2LL.
The hearing is in public and we will be able to publish the time and the court room number the day before.

The Royal Courts of Justice

Our claim will be argued by our very experienced and specialist barrister, Matthew Horton QC, who has the reputation as a “Brilliant heavyweight advocate, who has a great presence and thinks outside the box" 

However we can’t win this case without money! Please help us and donate on our CrowdJustice page

We must stop this building blocking winter sunlight on our only park and the school playground. Hundreds of children will be denied winter sun if this is allowed to continue.

The Bowater House Spectres of Modernism banner protest

A win will be a blow against property speculation and Londoners being priced out - we need social rented accommodation for people not luxury investment apartments left empty.

The Denizen won't contain any affordable housing
and is being marketed in Hong Kong as investment property

It will be a blow against those seeking to damage our architectural heritage and steal our sunlight by overdevelopment.

It will be a blow against corporate governments which seek to exploit community assets for their own benefit.

For far too long the Corporation of London has ignored the community's views and needs in preference to the views of developers. This has to change. If we win this battle there will be far reaching consequences for other developments.

TW are not paying the full 106 contribution to affordable homes because they say they paid the City too much for the site and the City accepted this excuse.
The City of London has ignored over 180 objections from local people.

Please help support this campaign by donating funds towards our Judicial Review on the CrowdJustice page and put a stop to communities being ignored and the development of more unnecessary overdeveloped luxury investment properties. We need affordable homes not cash boxes in the sky.

A mountain of greed.
The Denizen cash boxes in the sky, engulfing the Jewin Church
and overshadowing our park and school and homes

Taylor Wimpey have finished the wasteful demolition of Bernard Morgan House. We have all suffered during the demolition process from the uncontrolled dust. Taylor Wimpey have continued their uncaring attitude towards everyone who lives in this community.

The appalling toxic dust, created as Bernard Morgan House is destroyed

They wouldn't even agree to stop the demolition during the periods when Richard Cloudesley children were arriving and leaving school.

The mini buses and taxis waiting outside Richard Cloudesley School to collect children

Now Bernard Morgan House has been destroyed this site needs to be developed in a way that would benefit the community and the environment.

The empty site

An imaginative design that complements the surrounding listed architecture of the Golden Lane Estate and the Barbican and does not block the light and sunlight on Fortune Street Park, Prior Weston School, and neighbouring residential properties. It’s not impossible.

Social housing by Rick Mather Architects, inspired by Golden Lane maisonettes,
something like this would have complemented Bowater House beautifully. 

We're not against development if it will benefit the community and create much needed homes. Key worker homes to replace the police accommodation lost by this wanton vandalism.

The Denizen, unneeded luxury flats that will block light on our park and school

Unnecessary destruction of police accommodation

If this building had been refurbished people would be living there by now