Bluestone Holdings’ £60m holiday village in the Pembrokeshire Coast national park is facing further delays while the Court of Appeal considers a challenge brought by the Council for National Parks (CNP).
Keene LJ has granted CNP permission to appeal following the High Court’s decision to throw out the challenge in December.
A full appeal court will now consider CNP’s claims that the Pembrokeshire Coast park authority had not adequately justified its decision to go against national and local policies by granting outline planning consent for the scheme on 200ha (500 acres) of parklands near Narberth, west Wales, in January 2004.
The development by Bluestone and Alfred McAlpine Construction comprises 340 two- and three-bedroom timber lodges, leisure, retail and catering facilities, a 26,000 sq ft (2,400m2) sports club and a sewage treatment works.
It will be the national park’s third largest settlement after Tenby and Saundersfoot, and potentially the largest greenfield development permitted in any of the 12 national parks in England and Wales since their designation in the 1950s.
In granting permission, Keene LJ said that CNP’s challenge was “properly arguable” and raised “an issue of considerable importance” about the relationship between development plan policies and obligations upon planning authorities to have regard to such policies under section 54A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
“It should be considered by the full court,” he said.
According to Ruth Chambers, head of policy at CNP, the ruling means that the battle to prevent the village is far from over.
“This means that our legal challenge has cleared an important hurdle,” she said. “In giving CNP leave to appeal, the judge has recognised the importance of the case.”
She added: “The appeal is a crucial test of whether or not the claim of local economic benefit should be allowed to displace planning policies established to protect national parks. We believe that the appeal has a good chance of succeeding, and we will present the strongest possible case to the Appeal Court judges.”
Sylvia Davies, CNP’s Welsh affairs officer agreed that the case was “crucially important” for the national parks in Wales. “It will answer the question on everyone’s mind are national parks adequately protected by the planning system?” she said.
“We are greatly encouraged by the support that we have received for our action from local people in Pembrokeshire, as well as from the rest of Wales and elsewhere in the UK. This reflects the public interest in this case and in the protection of the Pembrokeshire Coast national park.”
R (on the application of the Council for National Parks Ltd) v Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority Court of Appeal (Keene LJ) 8 April 2005.
References: EGi Legal News 8/11/05
