The Appeal Court has upheld a High Court decision rejecting a Mansfield woman’s attempt to block an industrial estate development next to her home, which she claimed would threaten the local populations of bats and golden plover.
Dawn Jones, of Abbot Road, Mansfield, had sought to quash Mansfield District Council’s decision to grant planning permission to Sheffield-based Hallam Land Management without requiring an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to be carried out.
However, dismissing her appeal, Dyson LJ said: “Having regard to the information already available, it was reasonable for the (council’s) committee to decide that the development would be unlikely to have significant effects in relation to birds and bats.”
Agreeing, Carnwath LJ said: “With hindsight, it might have saved time if there had been an EIA from the outset. However, five years on, it is difficult to see what practical benefit, other than that of delaying the development, will result to the appellant or to anyone else from putting the application through this further procedural hoop.”
He added: “It needs to be borne in mind that the EIA process is intended to be an aid to efficient and inclusive decision making in special cases, not an obstacle race. Furthermore, it does not detract from the authority’s ordinary duty, in the case of any planning application, to inform themselves of all relevant matters, and take them properly into account in deciding the case.”
R (on the application of Jones) v Mansfield District Council and another Court of Appeal (Laws, Dyson and Carnwath LJJ) 16 October 2003.
David Wolfe (instructed by Public Interest Lawyers) appeared for the appellant; John Steel QC and Sarah-Jane Davies (instructed by Browne Jacobson) appeared for the first respondents, the second respondent did not appear and was not represented.
References: EGi Legal News 17/10/03
