Doncaster Council are under fire after rejecting plans for the development of 930ha of land at Rossington.
Developer, Rossington Hall Investments Ltd, has launched a High Court challenge to the councils refusal of consent for the scheme, which would have provided employment, housing and two golf courses as part of the Unitary Development Plan for Doncaster.
The inspector in charge of the inquiry recommended that the Rossington scheme be abandoned because it was on green belt land. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food had objected to the scheme because of the quality of the land for agricultural purposes. There was also considerable local opposition to the development.
Counsel for the developer, Malcolm Spence QC, argued that the inspector and the local authority should have considered detailed objections raised by the developer to the precise boundaries of the green belt.
Counsel for the local authority, Simon Pickles, claimed that the definition of green belt boundaries was a matter upon which the inspector properly reached his own conclusion. He said he had been entitled on the evidence at the inquiry and on the basis of his own appraisal to make the recommendations that he did.
The hearing continues.
Rossington Hall Investments Ltd v Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, Queens Bench Division: Crown Office List (Robin Purchas QC, sitting as a deputy Judge of the division), 29 July 1999
Malcolm Spence QC and Ian Albutt (instructed by Cobbetts, of Manchester) appeared for the applicants; Simon Pickles and Richard Harwood (instructed by Wilbraham & Co, of Leeds) appeared for the respondents.
PLS News 30/7/99
