Appeal against deemed refusal of planning permission — Site treated as if in the green belt — Site was white land at the time of the inquiry — Whether Secretary of State erred — Appeal allowed
By his decision letter of December 21 1988, the first respondent, the Secretary of State for the Environment, dismissed the applicant’s appeal against the failure of the second respondent, Woodspring District Council, to give, within the prescribed period, notice of its decision on the applicant’s planning application. This was for outline planning permission to develop 4.5 hectares of land at Long Ashton, Avon, for housing and open space.
The applicant sought to challenge that decision, contending that (1) the inspector, upon whose report the Secretary of State had relied, wrongly treated the subject land as if it were within the green belt; and (2) the local plan inspector, appointed to consider the applicant’s objection to the inclusion of the subject land in the green belt, recommended against its inclusion.
Held The application was allowed and the first respondent’s decision quashed.
At the time of the planning inquiry the subject land was not in the green belt but was white land. The inspector was wrong in stating that the site lay within the green belt as set down in the approved structure plan; it did not. The first respondent was under a misapprehension as to the status of the land under the Avon County Structure Plan and was wrong to treat it as if it were land to which green belt policies and presumptions were applicable.
Simplex GE (Holdings) Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment
[1988] 3 PLR 25 applied.
Charles George (instructed by A D Sutherland of the legal department, John Laing plc) appeared for the applicant; and Robert Jay (instructed by Treasury Solicitor) appeared for the first respondent.
