A CrowdJustice appeal to fund a judicial review of the 288-home Brixton scheme stood at £12,989 of £25,000 with four days left. The council's register still shows no decision notice.
A crowdfunding appeal to pay for a judicial review of the 288-home redevelopment of International House and Pop Brixton had raised £12,989 from 167 pledges against a £25,000 stretch target when we checked it on Monday morning, with four days left to run. The CrowdJustice page, titled “Help Save International House”, is run by local campaigner Vanessa Boodhoo, with Bindmans LLP named as the lawyers.
Whatever the appeal raises, the timing question sits with Lambeth Council rather than the campaigners. The planning committee voted to approve the scheme on 24 March, but as of 17 August the council’s own register still lists application 25/03722/RG4 as “Awaiting decision”. No decision notice has been issued, because the committee’s approval was conditional on a Section 106 agreement being signed and on any direction from the Mayor of London.
What the campaign says
The appeal page describes International House, the former council office block at 6 Canterbury Crescent, as home to “over 100 small charities and organisations” providing services including emergency food, mental health support, youth work and HIV testing, many of them on peppercorn rents through 3Space’s “Buy One, Give One” model.
Its case for a judicial review is that the committee “did not have sufficient evidence to make a fair and informed decision” on 24 March, because members were “unaware of all the organisations working in the building, the social value of their work, and the importance of the shared ecosystem”. It says the scheme was approved on the basis that 34% of the dwellings would be affordable, and that it would produce “an 84% net loss of workspace”. If a challenge succeeded, the page says, the application would go back to the new planning committee “for approval or rejection”.
Those figures are the campaign’s. The council’s officer report measures the same scheme differently, and both sets of numbers are worth having.
What the officer report says
The committee report for the 24 March meeting sets out the scheme as 288 homes across four blocks: 18 and 20 storeys on Brixton Station Road, a six-storey block on Canterbury Crescent, and International House itself converted from offices to flats and extended to 14 storeys. 98 of the homes would be social rent (16 one-bed, 47 two-bed and 35 three-bed) and 190 would be for market sale. That is 34.0% of the units, the figure the campaign uses, but 40.3% of habitable rooms, which is the measure Lambeth’s planning policy applies. The report notes that the London Plan expects 50% affordable on public land, or the maximum the scheme can viably deliver.
On workspace, the report records 7,531 sqm of existing office floorspace in International House. The replacement is 3,806 sqm of offices on floors one to three of the new Brixton Station Road block plus a 134 sqm enterprise and community hub, which officers put at “a 52% replacement of office floorspace”, with 1,431 sqm of it secured as affordable workspace. Officers were plain that the current occupiers have no protection in planning terms: 3Space’s meanwhile project has run since 2018 without being secured by any permission or Section 106 deed, and its head lease “expires in March 2027”. The relocation package London Square is offering (one-to-one advice, help finding premises, and up to £500 towards commercial conveyancing) is described as voluntary and “not appropriate for inclusion in a s106 agreement”.
The consultation drew 63 responses: 10 in support and 53 objections.
What the committee decided
The minutes show the resolution to grant passed five votes to one, after one objector and three supporters spoke, along with both Brixton Windrush ward councillors in favour. Councillor Scott Ainslie declared at the start of the meeting that he had occupied an office at International House for about nine months in 2019, and Councillor Joanne Simpson recorded receiving two late emails from organisations based in the building.
The approval was subject to a satisfactory Section 106 deed being completed within six months of the meeting, so by 24 September 2026; if it is not, the Director of Planning and Sustainability has delegated authority to refuse the application. The scheme also has to go back to the Mayor of London for a “further referral” before permission can issue. Members added informatives asking London Square to prioritise local jobs and apprenticeships at the London Living Wage and to consult ward councillors on spending an £83,000 off-site play space contribution.
Why the “Awaiting decision” status matters
A judicial review of a planning permission has to be filed promptly and within six weeks of the decision being made, under rule 54.5(5) of the Civil Procedure Rules. The clock runs from the grant itself, not from the committee vote, and the register shows that grant has not yet happened. That is the practical background to a fundraiser that closes this week: the money is being gathered before the decision it would challenge has been issued.
The council’s own project page gives the working timetable: Pop Brixton’s lease renewed “until Winter 2026”, International House’s lease with 3Space “until Spring 2027”, site mobilisation from December, construction from March 2027 to December 2029, and completion in early 2030. Its announcement of the approval in March said tenants would be offered a brokerage service for alternative premises, legal advice and relocation events, and gave 49BSR6CC@lambeth.gov.uk as the contact for that support.
What it means for you
- If you use a service based at International House, nothing changes this year: 3Space’s head lease runs to March 2027 and the building is not part of the first phase, which is Pop Brixton’s site.
- If you want to comment, the application still shows as open for comments on the register, though the committee has already made its decision; the live choices now are the Section 106 terms and the Mayor’s referral.
- If you are on Lambeth’s housing register, the 98 social rent homes are the largest single benefit officers weighed, and the six-month Section 106 deadline in September is the next date to watch.
- If you are following the appeal, the CrowdJustice page shows the running total and closes in a matter of days.
Our Clapham planning news page tracks the borough’s larger applications, and the weekly roadworks and travel page will carry any Brixton Station Road closures once site mobilisation starts.
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