Residents win compensation over fight to cut social housing
A group of Foxhill residents who went to court to challenge an unpopular planning decision will be compensated by the council.
The Foxhill Residents’ Association won their court case against Bath and North East Somerset Council over its decision to approve plans which would have reduced social housing in the area.
A High Court judge quashed the decision and Curo’s outline planning application has been formally withdrawn.
The judge who made the decision has ordered the council to pay £14,000 to Peter Buckley, who took the council to court on behalf of the Foxhill Resdients’ Association.
Nola Edwards, the chairwoman of the association, said every last penny was going straight to the lawyers who agreed to represent the group for a much reduced fee. The London-based legal team, from Leigh Day solicitors and FTB Chambers, would have received £35,000 had they charged a set fee, she said.
The residents’ association has set up a crowdfunding page for further donations that will go straight to the lawyers who specialise in social justice cases.
Bath and North East Somerset Council gave Curo the green light last year to demolish up to 542 homes in Foxhill and build up to 700 new ones, with the loss of more than 200 social homes for rent.
Residents, many of them elderly, were devastated at the prospect of being forced out of their homes.
But last month, a High Court judge ruled in favour of their claim that the planning permission granted was unlawful because the council had not done enough to consider how the plans would affect the more vulnerable among them, as required by the Equality Act 2010.
Mr Justice Lewis said: “On balance...the council did not in fact have due regard to the impact on the elderly and disabled persons of granting an application which might lead to the demolition of their existing homes.”
The council did not “specifically address or have regard for the impact on groups with protected characteristics, in particular the elderly and disabled, of the loss of their existing home,” he said.
The Foxhill Estate, in Bath, is one of the 11 per cent most deprived areas in England, with 8.2 per cent of residents unable to work due to long-term illness.
More than 20 per cent of those who live there are in single parent households, many are old or disabled, and 6.9 per cent are unemployed, more than double the regional average.
Most homes on the estate are owned by social landlord Curo, which put forward ambitious regeneration plans last year.
After the Foxhill Residents’ Association launched a legal challenge, Curo’s chief executive wrote to residents announcing a dramatic change of heart.
In the light of community opposition to demolishing hundreds of homes, the company had decided not to implement the planning permission and would, instead, take the option of refurbishing the estate.
The council was, however, unwilling to accept that its decision to grant the permission was unlawful and the case proceeded to court.
Curo plans to refurbish homes on the Foxhill estate and its plans to build up to 700 new homes in nearby Mulberry Park are going ahead.
The judge’s decision is thought to have national implications, with lawyer Sarah Sackman, for Francis Taylor Building, who was instructed by Leigh Day, saying: “This case concerns the value of social housing and respect for existing communities.
“The result has implications not just for Bath but for estate redevelopment across the country.
“It’s a reminder from the courts that local authorities have to take seriously their legal obligations to confront the impacts on vulnerable people of their planning decisions.”