At an extraordinary meeting of the City of Durham Parish Council this week, Councillors voted unanimously in favour of seeking a judicial review into the proposed new County Headquarters scheme.
The extraordinary meeting of the Parish Council was called after Councillors received legal advice from Richard Buxton Solicitors that certain aspects of the scheme were legally flawed and there were a number of grounds for a judicial review into the proposed new County Headquarters and the process by which the decision to approve these plans was made.
Last week, the City of Durham Parish Council vowed to continue the fight against the new £50 million County Headquarters on the Sands after the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government James Brokenshire MP decided not to call in the application.
The plans to relocate the County Council Headquarters from its current site of Aykley Heads to a new building on the Sands car park have faced overwhelming opposition from across County Durham and beyond. In addition to a call-in request from the City of Durham Parish Council and other local bodies, a change.org campaign amongst residents requesting that the Secretary of State call in the application had reached over 4,700 signatures.
Members of the public attending the extraordinary Parish Council meeting on Wednesday expressed anger at the impact the proposals would have on the local area and the City.
Chair of the City of Durham Parish Council, Cllr Elizabeth Scott said, “throughout all of this, what we have seen from this County Council is well-established and Saved Local Plan policies being disregarded and an avoidance of any accountability whatsoever to the welfare of the residents of Durham City and the fabric of our City. For many of us who have fought these plans, there seems to have been a sense of pre-determination from the outset, with the County Council operating a ‘one stop shop’ in its determination of these plans. Last week we vowed to continue our fight and fight on we shall. As such, the Parish Council has now resolved to seek a judicial review of the scheme, with the aim that the County Council goes back to the drawing board on its plans for a new headquarters. People far and wide have expressed their opposition to these plans and we want them to know that the City of Durham Parish Council will continue to be a voice for this City. The impact of the proposed new £50m County HQ on our much-loved World Heritage site, our local amenity, traffic flows, parking, local residents and our environment will be hugely damaging.”