Streatham residents launch legal challenge over Lambeth Council’s approval of Leigham Court Road development — and reveal public land sold for £1

Streatham residents have launched a CrowdJustice campaign to fund a legal challenge against Lambeth Council’s approval of a major development on and around Leigham Court Road.

The campaign has already raised more than £7,500 towards an interim target of £20,000, and a Pre Action Protocol letter — the formal precursor to a claim for Judicial Review of the council’s decision — is currently being drafted by counsel.

The approved scheme (planning reference 25/02438/FUL) would redevelop land at 35–37 Leigham Court Road and land to the west and rear of 39–49 Leigham Court Road, including the current council car park, the former synagogue, and the former bowling green.

The development by Pocket Living would deliver 92 residential units, but residents are concerned that only 15 homes would be social housing, with 77 retained by the developer as rental-only properties — including 46 en-suite rooms with shared living spaces that residents describe as HMO-style accommodation rather than the family-sized affordable homes the area needs.

Public land sold for £1

A component of the residents’ legal challenge is the disposal of public land. Investigations have revealed that the council car park — the only public car park in Streatham — was sold to Pocket Living for just £1, as part of a series of transactions involving leases, transfers, and freehold arrangements at nominal values.

The council’s land is the key enabling component of the entire scheme: without it, the site could not be assembled and the development could not proceed in its current form.

Under Section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972, a local authority has a strict statutory duty to obtain the best consideration reasonably obtainable when disposing of public land.

Where disposal is at an undervalue, the council must formally assess and justify it — identifying specific economic, social, or environmental benefits and demonstrating that those benefits are proportionate to the value forgone.

Residents say the council has done none of this. There is no evidence of a comparative valuation of the existing land against the assembled site, no market testing of alternative disposal routes, and no clear documentation of the scale of any undervalue or the justification for it.

The council has not stated that best consideration has been achieved, nor provided a reasoned case for why it has not. Pocket Living’s own financial viability consultant calculated a viability deficit of more than £13 million against the benchmark land value, noting the development would only become deliverable over time and with future rental growth — yet the

council proceeded without transparent scrutiny of these figures. To compound matters, the council is also expected to pay Pocket Living more than £3 million to acquire the social housing units once built — meaning that Lambeth will have provided public land for £1 and then spent a further £3 million purchasing back a small portion of the development it enabled.

Residents argue that this failure is not merely procedural. Public land is being transferred at a nominal value to enable a scheme that would not otherwise proceed, distorting the planning context and undermining public accountability.

The absence of any lawful justification for the undervalue means the land disposal itself — and the planning decision that depends upon it — may be unlawful.

Streatham Leigham Group, representing local residents, has instructed specialist planning solicitors Richard Buxton Solicitors. A spokesperson said:

“We are not against new housing. We know London needs homes, including genuinely affordable and social housing.

Our concern is that this particular decision appears to have been made without properly explaining or weighing up serious harm to nearby residents, the local conservation area, and local environmental standards — and that public assets have been given away without the transparency the law requires.

We are asking Lambeth to do the sensible thing: pause, look again, and put the decision back before councillors with the full facts.”

Further Concerns

The residents’ case also raises serious questions about whether councillors were given the full picture before voting to approve the scheme on 28 April 2026. The council’s independent technical review found a “major adverse” daylight impact on a neighbouring garden — a finding residents say was not clearly presented to councillors.

Neighbouring homes, including a sheltered housing building with elderly residents, would lose significant light. The council’s own documents recognised the presence of vulnerable residents but did not demonstrate a proper assessment of the impact on them.

Residents also raise a striking inconsistency over building height. The six-storey height of the majority of the development was partly justified by officers on the basis of the comparable height of the new development at Dorchester Parade — yet at the very same Planning Applications Committee meeting, the Dorchester Parade development was itself approved subject to a reduction of one storey.

The justification for the scheme’s height was therefore based on a comparator that councillors simultaneously decided was too tall.

Residents are also concerned about the impact on the Leigham Court Road (North) Conservation Area, whose own documents describe the area’s leafy, spacious character and identify infill development as one of its greatest threats.

They further argue that the council relied on a town centre planning policy to support the housing element of the scheme, when the part of the site within the Streatham Town Centre Boundary would in fact contain commercial or community space, not homes.

With the campaign having surpassed £7,500, funds are being used to prepare the formal Pre Action Protocol letter. If a full judicial review is required, costs could reach around £45,000. All funds raised through CrowdJustice go directly to the solicitors.

Supporters can read more and contribute at: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/streatham-jr/

Background

The planning application reference is 25/02438/FUL. Lambeth Council’s Planning Applications Committee resolved to approve the application on 28 April 2026, subject to completion of a section 106 agreement.

A Pre-Action Protocol letter is currently being drafted by counsel on behalf of Streatham Leigham Group, instructed through Richard Buxton Solicitors.

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