5 Members of 39 Essex Chambers appear in the High Court and Court of Appeal in Case Concerning Demolition of a Grade II Listed Building

News Richard Harwood OBE QC, Peter Village QC, Stephen Tromans QC, James Strachan QC, Rose Grogan 8th July 2013

R (on the application of SAVE Britain’s Heritage and the Victorian Society) v Sheffield City Council and the University of Sheffield.

Peter Village QC, James Strachan QC and Rose Grogan successfully represented the University of Sheffield (the interested party) in a controversial judicial review case about the demolition of the grade II listed former Jessop Hospital to make way for a landmark new engineering faculty building. Richard Harwood QC represented the Claimants and Stephen Tromans QC appeared for Balfour Beatty Construction Limited in the High Court proceedings.

The Claimants alleged that Sheffield City Council had misinterpreted national planning policy and failed to take into account material obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request which showed that planning officers disagreed about the merits of the scheme. Following an expedited permission hearing in the High Court, permission to apply for judicial review was refused. The parties were then back in the Court of Appeal within a matter of days where permission to appeal on the policy point was refused.

Related Barristers

Richard Harwood OBE QC

Peter Village QC

Stephen Tromans QC

James Strachan QC

Rose Grogan