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Taylor Wimpey’s solicitors, Dentons, have withdrawn their application for an adjournment and the hearing is going ahead as originally planned on 1st March.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