High Court dismisses challenge to school plans on 'greenfield' site

The High Court has thrown out a challenge to the London Borough of Hounslow granting planning permission for a free school on metropolitan open land.

Collins J dismissed on all grounds a claim for judicial review of permission for a 1,400 pupil free school in Isleworth operated by the Nishkam School Trust, a charity that runs Sikh-ethos multi-faith schools.

Local resident Barbara Stryjak used the Crowd Justice website to help finance the action in which she argued that the sequential site assessment had not been carried out correctly to establish whether "very special circumstances” existed to permit development on metropolitan open land.

In her website statement Ms Stryiak argued that open space was in under pressure in London and that metropolitan open land enjoyed a protection equivalent to that of green belt sites.

“There is immense pressure from developers to build on green belt and many councils are prepared to go along with that,” she wrote. “It is vital that this trend is stopped now before it becomes common practice.”

She said the land had been used as a sports field for more than 80 years and the school would remove public access.

The school would not primarily cater for local demand and would increase traffic in an already congested area, Ms Stryiak added.

Hounslow approved the school last December with an officer’s report that said the sequential test had been undertaken and “if an alternative site had been identified, that option would have been advanced”.

The report said: “The metropolitan open land required very special circumstances to build on. Ms Fitzgerald [an adviser o parents] advised that there was an overwhelming need for school places and it was a balancing act between education provision and the environment. It was the only suitable site available and the travel plan sought to minimise the impact. There was a strong emphasis on sustainable development and the application sought to bring unused land into meaningful use.”

Councillors had approved the school by 10 votes to three.