Campaigners fighting the Clifford’s Tower development have hit their first fundraising milestone.
A crowdfunding appeal hit its target of £7,800 on Saturday (January 14), five days ahead of deadline.
It will fund the first part of a judicial review into City of York Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a proposed visitor centre and café at the castle.
“I took out this application for a judicial review because I was very unhappy with the process by which this decision was made,” said independent councillor Johnny Hayes, who launched the legal proceedings.
“Now a High Court judge will look through the all the case papers and determine whether the case should be given permission to move to a full hearing.”
‘Might be quashed’
That ruling should happen in the next couple of weeks.
Johnny said:
Then the application could be re-evaluated by the planning committee. But we are continuing to fund raise to prepare our case for the High Court.
Another £7,800 would be needed – and fundraising is continuing on the the CrowdJustice page.
Very generous
More than 160 people have pledged money to the cause so far, and Johnny said they had been “very generous”.
“The Crowdjustice site has had pledges ranging from just a couple of pounds up to some substantial donations. People have shown just how strongly they would like to have this application looked at again.
“I would like to thank everybody that has contributed either with cash or by sharing this with friends and family.”
If the case does go to the high court it will go before a senior judge as this is considered a very important case both regionally and nationally.
Related YorkMix stories
Fighting fund for Clifford’s Tower legal challenge raises £4.4K in ten days – but more is needed
Councillor takes legal action to stop ‘deeply flawed’ Clifford’s Tower plans
Clifford’s Tower demo in words, pix and video: ‘When 3,000 people speak, their voices must be heard’