North Kesteven District Council to face judicial review over heated pedestrianisation debate in Sleaford?

The heated debate around pedestrianising Sleaford Market Place is set to take its largest twist yet.

The town council wants to take North Kesteven District Council to judicial review over the proposals it ploughed through against the wishes of the local community.

NKDC’s plan for Sleaford Market Place has been the saga of the year so far for residents in the town, with opposition continuing to mount against the council’s vision for the site.

The £1 million proposal seeks to revitalise the market place by stopping cars from parking on the square, as well as including flowerbeds and public seating, among other elements meant to nurture a cafe culture.

While the seating and flowerbed aspects of the plan had already previously been approved by the district council’s planning committee, its vision of parking had been sent back for deferral on two separate occasions.

This back-and-forth has come after strong objections and public disapproval to the plans.

Local businesses on the Market Square fear it could kill footfall and thus their earnings, while disabled residents feel pedestrianisation of the area will mean parking access issues.

Now, the town council is stepping in.

Sleaford Town Council has voted to allocate funding for the initial exploration of a judicial review into the matter, much like West Lindsey District Council’s failed judicial review against the Home Office’s plan to house asylum seekers at RAF Scampton.

However, months of campaigning and plenty of legal costs later, the High Court gave the Home Office the green light to proceed with its plans, so Sleaford Town Council is understandably erring on the side of caution before proceeding any further.

Sleaford town councillor Dave Darmon confirmed the news: “The town council voted to agree funding to enable making the first steps towards a judicial review, but will seek advice as to whether its likely to be successful or not before committing to a potentially expensive process.”

This was seconded by Chris Pilkington, clerk of Sleaford Town Council, who said: “The town council is currently in the process of seeking legal advice to establish whether we have grounds to take NKDC to judicial review regarding its plans for the Market Place.

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“Whether it does in fact go to judicial review will depend on the advice we receive.”

A recent planning committee looked at what was considered the “sole remaining issue” with the proposals, and that is the issue of disabled parking spaces at Market Square.

North Kesteven District Council’s updated plans for the market saw the inclusion of eight blue badge holder spaces that can be used for up to two hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

This was approved by the planning committee, despite more objections arriving, and the delivery of a petition by resident and campaigner Anthony Henson, which saw close to 1,000 people sign against the council’s plans in the space of just two weeks.

As a result of this petition, the issue of Sleaford Market Place will be subject to a full council debate on January 25, offering residents a glimmer of hope that their fight to keep the area unchanged could yet be snatched from the jaws of defeat.

Commenting on the possibility of a Judicial Review, Anthony Henson said: “It would be absolutely absurd if North Kesteven District Council force the spending of taxpayers’ money on both sides of a legal action, simply because they were too pig-headed to consult.”

North Kesteven District Council has been contacted but did not comment by the time of publication.