A fresh attempt by Ocado to build a depot three metres from a north London primary school has failed - but campaigners against the project warned their fight was not over.
The online supermarket has been battling for permission to build the 24/7 facility next to Yerbury Primary School in Tufnell Park since 2019 - but was last week again told it could not go ahead with the scheme.
The decision marks another major victory for the ‘NOcado’ campaign organised by parents, pupils and teachers at the school, who say they have environmental and health concerns about the project.
A spokesman for Ocado said the company would be appealing against the decision - and that it remained "committed to having a positive impact on the local community”.
The company argues that the industrial estate next to the school was previously used for a similar purpose between 1992 and 2002 - and that permission should therefore be granted for it to be used in that way again.
But planning officers at Islington Council said evidence provided by Ocado in support of that argument was “unclear, confused, internally inconsistent and inconsistent with the limited ‘independent’ material available”.
The council had initially granted the site’s landlord a “lawful development certificate” in April 2019, but revoked it in October 2020.
In June 2021, a High Court judge threw out Ocado’s claim for judicial review of that decision, and the council have already refused a second application for a Certificate of Lawfulness to build the depot.
This latest refusal from the council was in response to a third application from Ocado for permission - but the company has said it will appeal against the decision with the Planning Inspectorate.
Fenella Grey, a parent at the school and member of the ‘NOcado’ campaign, said the council’s latest refusal had come as a relief.
“Honestly, it’s been three years, and it’s just been so drawn out,” she said.
“This last decision was a couple of months - if not longer - delayed, for a variety of reasons, but unfortunately it’s not over. The fact that this latest application has been rejected is a positive sign though.”
She added: “It’s three metres away from the school building, on the other side of the barrier. It’s a 24/7 grocery distribution centre, what they’re wanting it to be - but they’re calling it a ‘micro-fulfillment centre’.”
She said the depot would attract a regular stream of vans and HGVs - worsening congestion in the area - and that refrigeration units used by the vans would be noisy.
“We totally understand that the rise of online groceries is only going to go up and up, yet there’s a place [for such developments] and it's not in the backyard of a school and surrounding residential area,” she said, adding that air pollution was also a main concern.
A spokesman for Ocado said: “Ocado is committed to having a positive impact on the local community. This would be the greenest and quietest grocery facility in the UK, and we would commit to using a 100 per cent electric van fleet – replacing the vans that currently deliver in the area – and install a green ‘living wall’ along the boundary (with the school). It would also create around 300 new jobs for the local economy.”
