Campaign group said visitor attraction at fire-damaged mansion sets ‘dangerous precedent’
The High Court has granted the Georgian Group permission to launch a judicial review into the decision to approve Allies and Morrison’s controversial plans to create a visitor attraction in the fire-damaged shell of a grade I-listed 18th century mansion.
Clandon Park, one of the few surviving buildings by Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni, was considered one of Britain’s most significant Palladian houses before a fire destroyed its roof and much of its finely decorated interior in 2015.
Allies and Morrison’s plans for the house, which have been designed in collaboration with Purcell, would restore the exterior to its pre-fire state but retain its damaged interior.
Designed for the National Trust, the scheme aims to reveal the building’s architectural evolution with visitors guided along a series of walkways inserted into the voids where floors once stood, while a terrace accessed via glazed pavilions would be built on the roof.
The Georgian Group contested the proposals at Guildford borough council’s planning committee in March last year and later wrote to then communities secretary Angela Rayner urging her to call in the scheme.
But in a letter to the council in October, Rayner’s successor Steve Reed said he was “content” that the scheme should be determined by the local authority, which issued its final sign off for the plans the following month.
The Georgian Group is arguing that the council’s decision making was “unlawful” and would “set a dangerous precedent in terms of how the significance of historic buildings is assessed after damage or loss”.
The campaign group is resting its case on eight grounds including the adoption of a “post-fire” baseline for the building’s heritage significance, which is said erred in law, and the different treatment given in the proposals to the exterior and interior, which it argued was “inconsistent and irrational”.
The group also claimed the council failed in its “duty to consider alternatives” to the proposed scheme and failed to consider the “cumulative harm caused by these proposals”.
Anya Lucas, director of The Georgian Group, said the High Court’s decision to grant the judicial review is a “major step forward” in its fight against the redevelopment.
“This week’s decision shows the High Court considers that the claim is arguable and that there is sufficient merit for it to proceed to a full hearing,” Lucas said.
“We continue to believe that if the Clandon consents – predicated on the notion of a ‘post-fire significance’ - are not quashed this will set a dangerous precedent with far-reaching negative consequences for designated heritage assets.
“The Judicial Review, which we now have permission to pursue, concerns an extremely important general principle - as well as an important listed building”.
No date for the judicial review hearing has been set but the Georgian Group said it could be as early as this May.
The project team for Clandon Park includes construction manager Garinder & Theobald, cost consultant Gleeds, civil and structural engineer Ramboll, building services engineer Max Fordham, conservation consultant Alan Baxter Associates and access consultant David Bonnett Associates.
Guildford borough council, the National Trust, Allies and Morrisson and Purcell have been contacted for comment.
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