A SINGLE mother has lost her crusading battle to stop a multiplex cinema being built on Crystal Palace Park.

Diane Barker, 30, won the right to appeal in February after arguing the council should have carried out a full environmental impact assessment. (EIA)

She was concerned about the impact of traffic increases on her asthmatic four-year-old daughter.

The European Commission criticised the council for granting permission to London and Regional Properties without doing the assessment. But three judges at the Court of Appeal voted unanimously that the council acted correctly because an EIA could not be carried out at the final stage of granting planning permission.

Borough secretary Walter Million said: "The Court of Appeal has once more supported the council's actions.

"Mrs Barker should now admit defeat and put an end to the considerable cost to the public purse, both in the provision of legal aid to Mrs Barker and for the council in defending her action."

Crystal Palace Campaign chairman Philip Kolvin said: "It's a shame for Mrs Barker but I'm not really surprised.

"The UK courts are not the place to fight this.

"We are still pursuing this through the European courts, because people have a right to be democratically involved in the planning process."

London and Regional Properties have current planning permission to develop the site, but plans for the building of the multiplex are on hold.

November 30, 2001 9:22