Reports indicate that Tower Hamlets Council and City Hall can face further costs mounting up to hundreds of thousands of pounds if the 1,500 home Westferry Printworks development is sent to a new public inquiry.
Last month the High Court had overturned communities secretary Robert Jenrick’s go-ahead for the proposal of tower blocks rising to 44 storeys on the north side of Millwall outer dock on the Isle of Dogs. The decision had been arrived at after Jenrick conceded that there was “apparent bias” in his decision-making. The Planning Inspectorate has now confirmed that resolving the appeal will mean holding a new inquiry before a new inspector. This could result in significant costs for Tower Hamlets and City Hall, if their opposition to the scheme continues. Speaking to On London, a spokesperson said,
“It’s standard procedure that if a case is to be redetermined following a successful High Court challenge, a different inspector is assigned to run a new inquiry.”
Figures highlight that they had spent over £530,000 on the original inquiry, which ran in August last year.
“Everybody now has to pay twice. Having spent over half a million pounds of public money we might have to pay it again in a second appeal for a process which we know is not transparent.
“In the meantime, the desperately needed new secondary school on the site is not getting built, as well as new homes, because of the delays caused by Tower Hamlets Council and now Robert Jenrick squashing his own decision,” said Isle of Dogs councillor Andrew Wood, who resigned from the Conservatives over the issue