THE Town Hall has brought in a former Labour councillor to review the bungled handling of a planning decision overturned in the High Court.

Planning QC Nathalie Lieven will examine what went wrong when consent was given for new homes at the former Hope and Anchor pub.

The neighbouring Koko nightclub, formerly known as the Camden Palace, successfully appealed against the decision, claiming it would be left with inevitable noise complaints about their well-established operations.

Council chief executive Mike Cooke ordered an investigation after Mr Justice Stewart ruled that councillors who approved the new homes had been “significantly misled” by their own officers, and that the impact on Koko had not properly been considered.

The council said it expected to have the findings by the end of next month, “subject to the pressures on the workload” of the QC who is leading the inquiry.

Conservative group leader Claire-Louise Leyland, who has been calling for more transparency in how the planning system operates in Camden, said: “The review is a timely and welcome intervention, which demonstrates the level of concern felt in response to the judge’s finding that councillors on the planning committee had been misled by Camden’s staff. I have asked for this review to include a wider examination of the planning services’ processes and procedures. 

“There are many issues causing disquiet amongst members that have yet to be satisfactorily resolved.” These include how the council engages with residents and conservation groups, she said.

The council said there was no conflict of interest between Ms Lieven’s past local political life – she is a former chair of planning at the Town Hall – and her legal career. A press official said: “Ms Lieven is a barrister of the very highest integrity. The fact she was a councillor in the 1990s will not impact at all on her ability to make an independent assessment.”

He added that she is “one of the country’s leading planning and public law silks”.