The Appeal Court has overturned a High Court decision in respect of planning consent for a storage and distribution facility in Lewisham.
Neighbouring residents had complained that Lewisham London Borough Council had wrongly applied the Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1998 when they should have applied the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment)(England and Wales) Regulations 1999.
The High Court dismissed an application for judicial review of the council’s decision, and the residents subsequently appealed.
Allowing that appeal, Buxton LJ said today: “In my judgment, Lewisham reached their decision to grant planning permission on the basis of a mistaken approach to the 1999 Regulations, and, therefore, that decision cannot stand.”
The planning permission was quashed, and the application will be remitted to the council for reconsideration in light of the regulations.
R (on the application of Goodman and another) v Lewisham London Borough Council and another Court of Appeal (Brooke and Buxton LJJ and Morland J) 14 February 2003.
Richard Harwood (instructed by Richard Buxton & Co, of Cambridge) appeared for the appellant; James Maurici (instructed by the solicitor to Lewisham London Borough Council) appeared for the respondents; Keith Lindblom QC and Meyric Lewis (instructed by Park Nelson) appeared for the interested party, Big Yellow Property Co.
References: PLS News 14/02/03
