A former travelling showperson, who claimed that she needed a permanent home following a stroke, has failed in a final attempt to obtain permission to house her family in caravans on green-belt land.
In November 2003, Sullivan J upheld the decision of a planning inspector that Tina Bowers’ medical condition, and her desire to keep her five-year-old granddaughter in a local school, did not constitute very special circumstances that would justify inappropriate development in the green belt.
The Court of Appeal today refused leave for a further challenge to that decision. The court found that the facts put forward by Bowers in support of her challenge did not have sufficient weight to overcome the public interest in the preservation of the green belt.
Bowers v First Secretary of State Court of Appeal (Auld LJ) 19 February 2004.
David Watkinson (instructed by The Community Law Partnership, of Birmingham) appeared for the claimant; the defendant did not appear and was not represented.
References: EGi Legal News 20/2/04
