Campus plan protesters in blast after legal blow
CAMPAIGNERS who oppose a £100 million housing development in Glasgow have claimed Scotland’s planning system is flawed after losing their legal action at the Court of Session.
Jordanhill Community Council claims CALA Homes plans to build 420 new properties at the former Jordanhill Campus will strain local infrastructure and leave too little greenspace.
Members had instructed lawyers to go to the Court of Session to try to overturn a planning decision made by Glasgow City Council in January 2017.
But judge Lady Wolffe concluded Glasgow City Council had acted correctly and dismissed the case.
Now, campaigners say Scotland’s planning system is flawed.
Professor John Winfield, the Community Council’s chairman, said: “While disappointed with the ultimate verdict, we believe we have exposed a flawed planning system that is not fit for purpose and works against communities rather than with and for them.”
Jordanhill Community Council last year raised a Judicial Review Petition arguing that the decision to grant Planning Permission in Principle was “unreasonable and irrational.”
A two-day hearing in November was told that the decision to grant planning permission on the Strathclyde University site failed to take into account “material considerations” under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.
The decision to grant was made by the City Council’s Executive Director of Regeneration Services in January 2017 – four years after the council’s Planning Committee last considered the application.
JCC’s legal team argued that there were significant and material changes in circumstances in the intervening period.
However, in a 56-page determination Lady Wolffe rejected the Community Council’s case.
Jim McIntyre, Managing Director of CALA Homes (West), said: “We are pleased to take another step forward with our plans to build one of Glasgow’s most desirable residential developments on the legacy of Jordanhill Campus.”
Lawyers for the community council argued that there had been “significant changes” in the planned development between 2011– when the matter was first raised at executive committee – and 2017.
However, Lady Wolffe concluded that Glasgow City Council had acted lawfully.
She added that the January 2017 decision should continue to stand.
She wrote: “The petitioners’ challenges all fail and the petition falls to be refused.
“I will reserve meantime any question of expenses.”
Professor Winfield added: “Glasgow City Council has failed our community.
“Meanwhile CALA and their subcontractors should be aware that the community will be watching closely to make sure all conditions of the planning approval notice are met.”