Legal challenge in the works for ITV studios redevelopment

Campaign group, Save Our South Bank, have unveiled plans for a judicial review of Michael Gove’s decision to give the £700m project the greenlight.

Last month housing secretary, Michael Gove, approved demolish-and-rebuild plans for the redevelopment of the ITV South Bank studios. The scheme will create a two-block, office-led development reaching 25 storeys at its highest point.

However, the decision hasn’t been received lightly. A campaign group known as ‘Save Our South Bank’ (SOS) have claimed Gove’s approval ‘contains significant legal errors’. These include the South Bank being ‘threatened by two overbearing joined-together tower blocks’.

Currently, Lambeth Council, Sadiq khan – the Mayor of London – and CO-RE, developers based in central London, have given their permission for the project to progress, claiming a new office space, employment opportunities and an arts space will greatly benefit the community.

Against this backdrop, Michael Gove said that ‘the public benefits of the proposal outweigh the harm to designated heritage assets.’

In 2022, this scheme, which is set to be completed by Lendlease, was put on hold after Gove issued an Article 31 notice while the government considered whether the development should be ‘called-in.’

When the redevelopment was first revealed in 2021 by Mitsubishi Architects and CO-RE, some locals called it ‘a swollen deformity’.

Although the development has once again been given the go-ahead, SOS are continuing to argue that the development would cause ‘immense harm’ to surrounding national heritage sites and that the decision ‘flies in the face of policy regarding housing, reducing carbon and the circular economy’.

Rather than building new office spaces, SOS are stating the site should be used to build new, sustainable homes on in an attempt to address the capital city’s major housing crisis.

Campaigners are also claiming the redevelopment will generate 100,000 tonnes of carbon, prohibiting net zero goals.

Image: Shane Rounce

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