Club wins Round 1 of legal fight to save Brixton Night Spot

01 Jan 2018

Licensing, Planning and Environment, Public Law and Judicial Review

The legal challenge to Lambeth Council’s decision to grant planning consent for controversial housing development that would lead to the closure of one of Brixton’s best known night clubs has cleared the first crucial legal hurdle.

The High Court has granted permission on all grounds to challenge the decision of Lambeth Council to grant consent for development which would have resulted in the closure of Club 414 in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton.

Jonathan Clay and Matt Lewin of Cornerstone Barristers drafted the application, acting for Louise Barron, the manager of the internationally renowned Brixton Night Club.

Grounds in support of the application include that the Council should not have granted consent for the development by officer’s delegated decision instead of in public, at a committee meeting. There had been large scale public opposition to the new housing development that would replace the Club, which opened after the Brixton Riots in the 1980s. Other grounds included failure to consider relevant planning policy and the Council officers misdirecting themselves that there were no valid reasons to protect the existing use.

Granting permission for judicial review on 10th December, Mr Justice Collins stated in the Order that he was “not persuaded by the attempts in the Defendant’s Acknowledgement of Service to justify ….the officers’ report” The Judge also expressly identified the failure of the Council officers to consider Lambeth’s emerging local plan and the delegation of the decision to officers as being arguable grounds.

A date will now be fixed for hearing in the Planning Court in the New Year.