Gloucester City Council have failed to persuade the High Court to overturn an inspector’s grant of conditional planning permission for an amusement centre in Northgate Street, Gloucester.
Richards J has upheld planning consent that had been granted to the Noble Organisation for a change of use of premises in the conservation area from Class A1 retail to use as an amusement centre.
The judge held that the inspector had been entitled to reach the conclusion he had. He added that even if the inspector’s approach had contained errors, these would not have affected the result, and would have been of “no appreciable materiality”.
Gloucester City Council v First Secretary of State and another Queen’s Bench Division: Administrative Court (Richards J) 10 March 2003.
Richard Clayton QC and Christiaan Zwart (instructed by Sharpe Pritchard, London agent for Gloucester City Council) appeared for the claimants; Jeremy Morgan (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared for the first defendant; Richard Phillips QC and Hereward Phillpot (instructed by Hay & Kilner, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne) appeared for the second defendant.
References: PLS News 11/3/03
