A legal challenge to a compulsory purchase order planned to rejuvenate the seaside town of Margate with a £10m heritage theme park today reached the Court of Appeal.
DreamlandLive, the former owner of Margate’s Dreamland site, which closed as an amusement park in 2003, is challenging the CPO made by Thanet District Council and confirmed by the secretary of state for Communities and Local Government in May 2011.
However, in May, Judge Sycamore found there was no merit in the case and ruled that the CPO should stand, clearing the way for the council and the Dreamland Trust to proceed with plans for a £10.4m heritage theme park including historical rides and other attractions and a £2.2m restoration of the town’s famous Scenic Railway roller coaster, the oldest timber roller coaster in the country.
Now, DreamlandLive, which says that the council’s proposal will be loss–making and has made its own proposals for the site that it claims would be of “significantly greater benefit” to the seaside town, is asking the Court of Appeal to overturn that decision.
Opening the appeal, Richard Glover QC, for DreamlandLive, argued that the CPO should be quashed on the ground that the secretary of state’s conclusion on the commercial viability of the heritage amusement park was legally flawed as a result of factual errors and misleading advice.
Describing the CPO as “draconian” and having seriously harmful effects, he claimed that the high court judge failed to grapple with those issues, adding: “Taken collectively, it is plain that the conclusions on commercial viability and durability are not safe.”
In his ruling in May, Judge Sycamore said: “In my judgement, read as a whole, the decision letter and the inspector’s report in accepting the case for compulsory purchase made by the second defendants demonstrate that there is a compelling case for compulsory purchase in the public interest and that this balances against the private rights of the claimants. There is no disproportionate interference with the claimants’ human rights.”
The CPO covers the listed Dreamland cinema and land behind it, including the Scenic Railway and listed structures known as menagerie caves.
The council says that its plans, which will include £1.7m worth of rides in addition to the roller coaster restoration, will bring 350,000 visitors to Margate annually, and create 14 full–time and 32 part–time/seasonal jobs. DreamlandLive – formerly known as Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company – claims that its own proposals, which include an amusement park and as many as 500 homes, is a more financially viable solution for the site.
The court is expected to reserve its decision.
Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company Ltd and ors v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Administrative (Goldring and Elias LJJ, and Sir David Keene) 25 September 2013
Richard Glover QC (instructed by Fladgate LLP) for the Appellants
David Forsdick (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the 1st Respondent
Martin Edwards (instructed by Trowers and Hamlins LLP) for the 2nd Respondent (Thanet District Council)
