Ashtenne Industrial Fund fails in Chippenham redevelopment dispute

Ashtenne Industrial Fund (AIF) has failed in its bid for permission to proceed with part of its redevelopment of a 48-acre (19.4ha) industrial estate in Chippenham, Wiltshire. Deputy High Court judge Mr Ian Dove QC has rejected the claim brought by AIF and Asda, seeking to quash the decision of the secretary of state for communities and local government to uphold North Wiltshire District Council’s refusal of permission for the development. In 2004, Ashtenne Holdings, on behalf of AIF, paid Skelton Group £33.1m for the 815,000 sq ft mixed–use Langley Park estate, which adjoins Chippenham town centre. As part of its plans for the site, AIF proposed to build an 8,736m2 Asda store with car parking and 192 homes. The council rejected those proposals together with conservation area consent to demolish a building on the site. AIF’s appeal to the secretary of state’s inspector was dismissed in a decision letter dated 5 August 2008. The inspector found, among other things, that the proposals conflicted with local and national policy objectives, the overall design was inadequate the proposed housing did not include “green lungs”. AIF’s counsel, Peter Village QC and James Strachan, argued that in dismissing the appeals, the inspector had “erred in law” and that AIF’s and Asda’s interests had been “substantially prejudiced”; the decision should therefore be quashed. Dismissing the challenge, the judge ruled that AIF and Asda had failed to establish any error of law in the inspector’s decision. Ashtenne Industrial Fund Ltd Partnership and another v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another Administrative Court (Mr Ian Dove QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge) 17 July 2009. Peter Village QC and James Strachan (instructed by Macfarlanes) appeared for the claimants; Paul Brown QC (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared for the first defendant.