Haringey Borough Council has lost a fight at the Court of Appeal over plans to demolish of a Latin American market in London and redevelop the site.

The court has blocked a planning application to develop the Wards Corner site in Tottenham, next to Seven Sisters Underground station, ruling that the council did not take account of the impact on different races by completing an Equality Impact Assessment.

The Wards Corners building contains an important market, with a large number of Colombian traders as well as Afro-Caribbean, Turkish and Cypriot traders.

Campaigners say it the first case to determine that local authorities should establish what impact major developments will have on the affordability of rents, and their impact on race equality.

Lord Justice Pill, who gave the ruling at the Court of Appeal, said Haringey had given approval in 2008 to the plan to regenerate the site.

Janet Harris made the appeal in 2006 on behalf of the Tottenham Civic Society in 2006. She said: “Developments of this kind erode the social fabric of communities like mine in Tottenham. If they are not checked, people will eventually look around and wonder why the place where they live is no longer special and vibrant.”

Pill said he had “some regret” over the decision, because the council genuinely wanted to regenerate the area.

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