Shepherd's Bush Market Traders Claim Major Victory
Plans for redevelopment look set to be scrapped after developer abandons appeal
Computer generated image of redeveloped market
A major development which traders at Shepherd's Bush market believed would have ended a hundred years of tradition looks dead in the water after another legal victory for the campaign against it.
The freehold owner of Shepherd’s Bush Market, Orion Shepherds Bush Ltd has withdrawn its application to appeal to the Supreme Court over a previous decision to quash the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) which the developers Orion Land and Leisure needed to aquire the site. The scheme would have gentrified the market area as well as seen the building of 213 flats.
It is believed that the Council will now work with Orion to come up with a new proposal for the site which will give greater guarantees to the market traders and do more to protect the market's unique identity. The previous scheme gave traders no protection against unaffordable rent rises and left them responsible for maintenance costs.
James Horada, Chair of the Shepherd's Bush Market Tenants Association (SBMTA) said, “Over the past 2 and half years the Shepherd’s Bush Market traders have been placed under a great deal of duress. The Market has suffered under poor management, causing businesses to fold and footfall to drop."
As well as Leigh Day, the Council, the judges and the local MP Andy Slaugther, he thanked the local people who had signed the petition to protect the market. It has reached nearly 10,000 signatures.
Mr Horada added, “We now hope that there will be positive and constructive dialogue between all parties and we look forward to the traders being treated with respect whilst sensible and fair proposals and investments are offered to aid and strengthen the long-standing businesses of Shepherd’s Bush Market.”
Richard Stein of Leigh Day, and solicitor for the market traders said, “The fact the Court could only quash the CPO completely was extremely important because Hammersmith & Fulham Council had changed from a Conservative to a Labour led Council in 2014. The new Labour council was elected on a manifesto promising to oppose the Shepherd's Bush Market CPO made by its predecessor.
“As a result, the council is now committed to promoting a market regeneration which safeguards the Market's character and the current stallholders."
In March the group received the backing of a High Court judge who ruled that former Communities Secretary Eric Pickles had not given proper reasons for backing the CPO. The CPO was put in place in February 2015 after Mr Pickles overturned the recommendation of an independent senior inspector following a Public Inquiry in 2014.
The Inspector, Ava Wood, had recommended that the CPO should be refused because the proposed development of Shepherd’s Bush Market did not offer sufficient guarantees and financial safeguards for the special character of the market and the long-standing market traders. She also stated that the development would threaten the ethnic diversity, independence and small scale retailing environment that is central to the appeal of the area.
Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith, "This has been a five-year struggle which, had it succeeded, would have ripped the heart out of Shepherd's Bush. But the tenacity and courage of the small shopkeepers of Goldhawk Road and the traders of Shepherd's Bush Market has won through and the hated Compulsory Purchase Order is consigned to history.
"This also means the council – under a new administration – is free to negotiate a better solution for the area. The prize for infamy however goes to the previous secretary of state who disregarded the public inquiry and the painstaking work of his own inspector and overturned her decision to protect the Market."
August 8, 2016
