I sent a press release out from the STOP THE INCINERATOR campaign on Friday 20th. It has already been published in the Adder and Inside Croydon. On a personal note, I am now anxious about what happens next. There is an argument that I don't pay the bill and risk a CCJ in an attempt to get a judge to rule that the £5400 shouldn't be paid because of that has gone on. As I type these words I just think it may be best to move on with regards the judicial review. Yes, there are questions that need answering about corruption etc. but these two issues shouldn't be conflated. More to the point, I haven;t got £5400 readily available.
The Press release starts here:
20.11.15
CORRUPT COUNCIL DEMAND MORE MONEY
Starts
Solicitors acting on behalf of Sutton Council have contacted
Richard Buxton solicitors demanding that Shasha Khan pay costs of £5000 plus
£400 in accrued interest within 14 days.
Sutton Council spent tens of thousands of pounds defending
their decision to grant planning permission for the South London incinerator in
the High Court. Normally the defendant can recover their costs if the judge
rules in their favour. However, the member states of the EU have signed up to
the Aarhus Convention which ensures all citizens are able to obtain access to
justice on environmental issues. Under this convention, when the claimant, in
this case Shasha Khan, is an individual, the recoverable costs if the High
Court challenge is unsuccessful are capped at £5000.
The South London Legal Partnership sent an email with a copy
of the court order to Richard Buxton on 16th November 2015.
Reacting to the demand, Shasha Khan said, “I am a bit
stunned by the demand. I don’t have £5400 readily available. “
“As soon as Justice Sales refused permission for an Appeal
back in late April I spoke to my (now former) solicitor about the £5000 capped
costs that I was liable for. I was advised that there was a potential that the
defendant wouldn’t come after the £5000. So we decided to wait.
“Seven months have elapsed and suddenly Sutton has decided
to come after £5k, with interest! I am wondering if they’ve done this
deliberately to accrue as much additional cash as possible – far better than putting
the £5k in the bank. It’s like rubbing salt in the wound. I have continued to
fight the granting of planning permission despite losing the judicial review.
Since the decision in April, a whole series of damning corruption, intimidation
and transgression revelations (1) have come to light about what went on behind
the scenes, and we haven’t given up forcing Sutton and the South London Waste
Partnership to come clean on their dodgy behaviour. Maybe this is their way of
saying, ‘don’t question us peasant!’
“I have contacted the South London Legal Partnership but the
‘team leader’ is on annual leave and no one else can help me. This leaves me
just 10 days to raise all the money.”
Ends
1)
http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/Sutton-investigates-claims-ex-councillor-coerced/story-27794377-detail/story.html
and http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/12893354.Lib_Dem_linked_church_received_more_than_quarter_of_a_million_pounds_from_company_hoping_to_build_South_London_Incinerator/
and http://insidecroydon.com/2015/09/16/conflicts-of-interest-exposed-over-councillors-old-pals-act/
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Tags croydon, greenparty
