Save Parkland Walk’s Green Edge — Fund the Legal Fight

One officer has approved a house on Parkland Walk’s last wild corner. No public vote.

Help us challenge this decision in court before 11 May 2026.

At the end of Shepherds Close in Highgate lies a steep, wooded bank that falls directly down to Parkland Walk, a designated Local Nature Reserve and Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. This is not a gap between buildings or spare “infill”. It is part of the living corridor of the Walk, where bats hunt, foxes move, and hundreds of people pass each day.

For years, attempts to build here were refused. Two Planning Inspectors found this small copse too sensitive for development because of the harm it would cause to Parkland Walk and the Highgate Conservation Area. After the last appeal was dismissed, the developer felled 19 mature trees, fenced the land and re‑labelled it “degraded infill” – then applied again. This time, a single officer signed the house off under delegated powers, with no public Planning Committee, no debate, and no vote. Application Link Here

We have now instructed environmental planning barrister Alex Shattock and sent a Pre‑Action Protocol (PAP) letter – the formal first step towards a Judicial Review of this decision. We are raising £5,000 by 11 May to cover his advice, the PAP letter, and the initial court stage.

If you use or love Parkland Walk, please donate what you can and share this page. Even small amounts and shares add up; this is about how many of us are prepared to stand up for this corner before it disappears from the map.

The full story (for anyone who wants the details) is below.

At the end of Shepherds Close in Highgate lies a steep, wooded bank that falls directly down to Parkland Walk, one of London’s longest urban nature reserves. This is not a gap between buildings or infill. It is part of the living corridor of the Walk, a sheltered corridor where bats hunt, foxes move, and hundreds of people pass each day. This is the green edge we are trying to protect. Sign the petition and share.

The steep, wooded corridor described as a green lung and bank between the approved house site and Parkland Walk is the green edge we are fighting to protect.

Residents say there is a 40‑year history of planning applications for this small copse being turned down because of the harm they pose to the Parkland Walk and the Highgate Conservation Area.

View from Shepherds Close down to Parkland walk, where the developer intends to excavate.

What has happened

Parkland Walk is a designated Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

For years, attempts to build on this land were refused.

Two planning appeals confirmed it is too sensitive for development.

This time, permission has been granted, quietly, under delegated powers, by a single officer.

Parkland Walk near the Highgate tunnel, a designated nature reserve used daily by hundreds of people and home to bat roosts.

Why we believe the decision is flawed

We are taking specialist legal advice because of serious concerns;

The so-called "infill plot" at Shepherds Close, in reality a vegetated green corridor immediately above Parkland Walk's Local Nature Reserve, fenced and stripped in readiness for development

Why this matters beyond Parkland Walk

If this permission stands unchallenged, it becomes easier for any developer to reclassify a green edge as degraded infill, fell the trees, and obtain permission under delegated powers without a public vote, without adequate regard to planning history, and without proper ecological scrutiny. The same playbook can be used to chip away at green corridors and “protected” spaces anywhere.

The Walk's bat roosts near the Highgate tunnel are among the most significant in North London. Deep excavation on a steep, unstable clay bank immediately above a Local Nature Reserve raises serious questions that were never examined in public.

Once this kind of green edge is gone, it is gone for good.

Urban wildlife already uses this small green edge, a fox photographed today on the Shepherds Close plot, above Parkland Walk.

Parkland Walk near the Highgate tunnel, a designated nature reserve used daily by Hundreds of people and home to bat roosts.

The site's character was significantly altered after the application and appeal were refused in 2020

The site’s character was deliberately altered after the 2020 refusal.

After the previous application (HGY/2019/3260) was refused and the developer lost their appeal in 2020, the trees and shrubs on this small copse were then removed, as confirmed by Haringey’s own arboricultural officer in a 2020 email.

What had been a sheltered green corridor was turned into a bare, fenced plot and is now being treated on paper as “degraded infill” to justify a new application.

In 2020, a Planning Inspector dismissed the appeal (APP/Y5420/W/20/3257208), finding that a very similar house in on this land would harm the character of the area and the setting of the Parkland Walk. You can read that decision here

The FOI response and local reporting together show a clear sequence: The application was refused.

The appeal was dismissed,

and then 19 trees were felled, when there was no new planning permission in place. Ham & High

Trees were felled and hard fencing erected, transforming a sheltered green edge into something resembling a derelict gap. The application then used that degraded state as its baseline, presenting the result of deliberate clearance as the reason why development is now acceptable. This circular reasoning and its effect on the biodiversity net gain assessment were never examined in public.

On paper, this is now called a brownfield, infill site within an established curtilage for the people who walk it every day. It has always been the small copse and green buffer between the houses and the Parkland Walk

The urbanisation of a green corridor

What was once a soft, wooded green corridor edge is being turned into a hard urban boundary, breaking the visual and ecological buffer that has long separated the Highgate cul‑de‑sac from the Local Nature Reserve and its bat, bird and fox habitat.

What we are doing

We are preparing a Judicial Review challenge in the Planning Court.

The first essential step and the only thing that the 11 May deadline requires is a formal Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) letter, drafted and sent by a specialist planning barrister. We have instructed Alex Shattock, a public, planning and environmental law practitioner ranked in Chambers & Partners for environmental law, whose work includes cases on protected habitats, climate and nature conservation.

The letter will:

If the Council acknowledges the problem, it may withdraw and re-determine the permission without a full court hearing. If it refuses, we will return to supporters with a clear, fixed budget for Stage 2 before asking for more.

We are not promising a win. We are asking a judge to examine whether this decision was lawful. That examination is what has been denied so far.

A small buffer towards filing a protective court claim if the Council fails to respond before 11 May.

£5,000 buys one thing: a formal letter from a planning barrister that lands on Haringey's desk and cannot be ignored.

If the Council refuses to back down and our barrister still considers the case strong, a full Judicial Review through to a hearing would cost in the region of £49,000–£59,000. We will only ask for that funding at Stage 2, with a fixed, transparent budget, so supporters can decide whether to continue.

Costs, risk and the Aarhus cap

Because this is an environmental planning case brought in the public interest, we intend to apply for Aarhus Convention costs protection. This caps what a claimant can be ordered to pay the other side if the claim does not succeed. No donor is putting their home or savings at risk.

Donations will be used to pay our legal team (barrister, any instructed solicitors, and court fees) and to cover any adverse costs within the court-imposed cap if it comes to that.

We will post a public update when;

Why your support matters

Along Parkland Walk, near the Highgate tunnel, there is an old stone spriggan — a small guardian that has watched over this stretch of former railway for decades. The wood just above him, at the end of Shepherds Close, is what we are trying to give a fair hearing.

The developer has already felled 19 trees and fenced the land. The site is now being treated on paper as degraded infill.

If this permission stands, it becomes easier to reclassify green edges as “infill”, clear them, and secure approval without public scrutiny.

Every contribution helps ensure this decision is properly examined before the 11 May deadline.

£10 — Helps print and serve the legal letter

£25 — Roughly 15 minutes of a barrister's time

£50 — Supports an hour of paralegal preparation

£100 — Puts us closer to a counsel-checked PAP letter and, if needed, court proceedings

If you can’t donate right now, you can still really help by sharing the link with three friends, or posting it in any local group or chat you’re part of – especially if they know Parkland Walk

Sign and share the petition: https://www.change.org/p/stop-developer-led-abuse-from-highgate-to-the-fens

The deadline is 11 May 2026. After that, the chance to challenge this decision is gone.

A nature reserve.

One officer. No public vote.

That is not how environmental protection is supposed to work