A Cambridgeshire man has succeeded in his High Court challenge to his local council’s grant of planning permission for the demolition of an existing bungalow and the erection of two houses and garages in the village.
Edmund Rank, of 46 Lode Road, Bottisham, claimed that East Cambridgeshire District Council were wrong to grant permission for the development on land at 44 Lode Road. He claimed that they had failed to take into account material considerations such as the 1988 refusal of planning permission for the site and an inspectors appeal decision in 1989.
Allowing Mr Ranks application for judicial review, and quashing the councils decision, Deputy High Court Judge Barlett QC said that the inspectors conclusion, that the proposed development would be cramped and out of keeping with its surroundings in such a rural development, was “of such relevance to the determination that the council had to make on the 2002 application that their failure to have regard to it was an error of law that vitiates their decision”.
The court rejected a claim by Mr Rank that the council had failed to address his rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
R (on the application of Rank) v East Cambridgeshire District Council and another Queen’s Bench Division (Deputy Judge George Bartlett QC) 30 September 2002.
Gregory Jones (instructed by Richard Buxton, of Cambridge) appeared for the claimant; Harriet Townsend (instructed by the solicitor to East Cambridgeshire District Council) appeared for the first defendants; the second defendant did not appear and was not represented.
PLS News 8/10/02
