The London Borough was awarded £27m ‘Mini-Holland’ funding from London Mayor Boris Johnson to improve its cycling infrastructure. Mini-Holland grants of around £30m were also awarded to Kingston and Enfield councils.
Campaign group E17streetsforall had its High Court challenge thrown out last week, with Mr Justice Holgate stating that its six key objections to Mini-Holland held “no merit whatsoever”.
He ordered E17streetsforall to pay £12,000 towards legal costs incurred by Waltham Forest and also refused to grant the group permission to lodge an appeal.
E17streetsforall said: “Despite this latest legal setback it will cost us very little, but the cost to the council for both actions and their large legal team, will be a substantial sum from their Mini-Holland budget.”
Waltham Forest had brought in two barristers to fight the legal challenge, and admitted that its costs amounted to more than £12,000, though it would not specify how much.
A Waltham Forest spokesman said: “When someone mounts a court action against the council we have little option but to defend our legal position, particularly when legal advice indicates that the case against us is very weak.
“We made every effort to ensure that this case did not have to get to court, but in the event the claimants would not withdraw their claim. The total costs incurred in mounting our legal defence are still to be calculated, but we are pleased that the court awarded us costs to assist.”
