A High Court judge has rejected an application for judicial review of the multi-million pound redevelopment of Warren Farm sports ground , but the chair of Hanwell Community Forum (HCF) says the fight is not over.
Mr Justice Lewis turned down all claims made by HCF, confirmed that Ealing Council acted appropriately in granting Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club (QPR FC) planning permission to redevelop the site, and awarded QPR’s costs of £5,000 against the community group.
Councillor Julian Bell, leader of the council, said: “We are pleased with the High Court’s decision and, with QPR set to invest millions of pounds into the community sports facilities, I’m confident we’ve secured the best deal for local people.
“Once the site is up and running, QPR will implement a significant community sports development programme focused on encouraging local people, particularly young women, older people and people with disabilities, to get involved in sport.
“The club will also be responsible for ongoing maintenance of the new facilities, with no cost to taxpayers or the council.”
QPR’s Chief Operating Officer, Mark Donnelly, said: “We are pleased with the outcome from the High Court and welcome the news that the application for a judicial review has been rejected.
“We look forward to continue working closely with Ealing Council on this project.”
The community group now has a week to seek an oral hearing to ask for the judge’s decision to be reconsidered, and this is what they plan to do.
Chair of HCF and member of the Save Warren Farm campaign, Carolyne Brown, said: “We will be challenging this because we provided over 900 pages of evidence to show that the council has been wrong in its process and decision making.
“We have already instructed our legal team to make an application for an oral hearing to reconsider this refusal.
“The loss of two thirds of the land to a commercial organisation would very much have a significant environmental impact.
“We have 878 signatures on the petition at the moment and urge people to add to this by visiting www.savewarrenfarm.co.uk.”
QPR plan to build a new multi-million pound community sports complex alongside its elite training facility, which will provide a base for the club’s training academy as well as give local people access to high-quality community and sports facilities.
The improvements include enhanced football and cricket pitches, a new artificial turf pitch and multi-use games areas suitable for sports such as netball and tennis.
There will be new changing facilities catered for disabled users, as well as bookable community space in the new clubhouse.
