The City of London Corporation is seeking special planning powers to over-ride a "critical" threat of delay to its £300 million London 'justice quarter' development caused by Rights of Light objections from neighbours.
Plans for a development on Salisbury Square in Fleet Street to include an 18-courtroom facility and headquarters for the City of London Police were given the green light in 2021.
Designed by Eric Parry Architects for the City of London Corporation, the municipal governing body for London's historic financial centre, the development is planned as the heart of a new “Justice Quarter”. The complex of three buildings would redevelop a part of the Square Mile that was for many years synonymous with the newspaper industry.
The City Corporation has been notified that it faces the threat of injunction because of Rights of Light objections from neighbours and that ongoing compensation negotiations over the issue are jeopardising the project because of a strict timetable for providing new homes for the City of London Police and His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.
The Rights of Light Act applies to all properties that have received natural daylight for more than 20 years. It guarantees landowners that buildings will continue to receive natural light and if not that they will be awarded compensation for loss of light.
The Corporation has applied to appropriate the development land for planning purposes in order to over-ride Section 2023 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 in a move that had been expected to be heard by its planning and transportation committee today. The motion was withdrawn at the 11th hour due to a procedural error that meant one of the stakeholders in the potential claim had not been notified of the date of the meeting. A spokesperson for the City Corporation told CoStar News it hoped to bring the motion back to committee early in the New Year.
The City Corporation argues there is a "critical path" for the development because of the programme for His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service to occupy the new City of London Law Courts building for the administration of justice within three months of practical completion on 28 September 2026 and for the City of London Police to occupy the new police station by March 2027 when its lease on existing premises at 21 New Street ends.
Delva Patman Redler, Rights of Light consultant to the City of London, has advised that the development is at risk due to injunctable Rights to Light which are "most unlikely to be released on the basis of reasonable compensation negotiations within the foreseeable future".
The City Corporation wants powers that remove the risk of injunction under Section 203, which authorises interferences with Rights of Light, and Section 204 which means that compensation is payable for any interference with a right or interest or breach of a restriction authorised by Section 203. It says negotiations to settle compensation payments would continue after any appropriation and all existing offers made to rights holders would be honoured.
City planners have recommended the notion is approved.
Upon completion, the City projects that the Justice Quarter would house 2,500 jobs, of which 400 will be newly created across a range of sectors.
The Salisbury Square Development’s buildings have been designed with a 125-year minimum service life. The Corporation said that through reclaiming materials from existing buildings, reducing energy demand through well-insulated facades, and the use of an all-electric heating system, the development will also support the City of London to achieve its goal of net zero across the Square Mile by 2040.
The first of the proposed buildings is a flagship Courts building, with its main public entrance on Fleet Street. This will be a combined court housing Crown, Civil and Magistrates’ court. The second is an headquarters for the City of London Police that will bring together a large part of the force - currently spread across several buildings in the City - into a purpose-built headquarters, designed in consultation with officers and staff.
There will also be a commercial building, located towards the south of the site, providing Grade A office accommodation and space for retail, bars, and restaurants at ground floor level, as well as a cycle hub.
The proposals are being financed entirely by the City of London through the redevelopment of the existing courts (Mayor’s and City of London Country Court and City of London Magistrates Court) and the sale of two police facilities (Wood Street Police Station and Snow Hill Police Station).
Gerald Eve has advised on planning.