There's Many A Slip

The news that proposals for the redevelopment of Shepherds Bush market have been abandoned is a salutary reminder that there are numerous hurdles such schemes need to overcome, any one of which, even the least expected, can trip the developer up and put a premature end to the project.

On the face of it, the redevelopment proposals for the market had everything going for them: the proposed developer had funding behind it; the local authority, Hammersmith and Fulham LBC had recognised the importance of a redevelopment of the market both in local plan policy and a specific planning framework setting out the Council's objectives in some detail. Perhaps unsurprisingly outline planning permission had been granted. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, as it turned out, the compulsory purchase order (CPO) could, and did, go spectacularly wrong! Before the Court of Appeal's decision in this case, I, and many other experienced practitioners, would have told you that, once planning permission has been granted, a CPO to secure its implementation is, if not a formality, very difficult for objectors to resist. In most cases, I would still stick to that view. In this case, I reckoned without human fallibility.

The CPO, as might be expected, attracted a large number of objectors, not least among the market traders and was considered by an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State at a Public Inquiry. The Council's planning framework emphasised the importance of ensuring that the scheme "...crucially maintains existing traders and provides them with the security to ensure that the market can continue to operate without interruption and serve existing customers and communities."

However, the Inspector was not satisfied that the proposals contained sufficient safeguards to ensure that market traders would be able to afford the rents for the future...