Court denies judicial review bid by heritage campaigners

Campaigners have lost their bid for a judicial review to prevent demolition of a Victorian hospital in Sheffield.

Save Britain's Heritage (SBH) and the Victorian Society want to preserve the former Jessop Hospital, built in 1878, which the University of Sheffield wishes to demolish to construct a new engineering department on the site.

Mr Justice Supperstone dimissed the judicial review application, a step that SBH director Clem Cecil, called disappointing. He said the objectors would consider an appeal.

The high court had granted an injunction against Sheffield University preventing it, or its partners, from demolishing the Grade II listed building pending the outcome of the judicial review.

Claimants said after the decision: “This scheme is unusually stark in terms of the planning laws it seeks to exploit on points of interpretation.  It is vital that the we can press on with this rare opportunity to challenge the type of interpretation of laws citing ‘public benefit’ which in the next few years, if left unbridled could see many Grade II listed buildings demolished.”

The case turned on how rigorously councils have to weigh the loss of listed buildings under new planning guidelines.

Claimants argue that the wrong tests were applied when balancing damage to a heritage asset against public benefits.

The university last year gained planning permission to demolish the building from Sheffield City Council. It has said that the building would provide a £44.5m boost to the city's economy while being built and provide an extra 600 jobs once complete.