The high court has rejected a campaign group’s bid to block plans by developers ProLogis and PRUPIM for a 1.36m sq ft distribution park in Hampshire.
On Friday John Howell QC, sitting as a deputy high court judge, refused Stop Pyestock bLot Act Today’s (SPLAT) application to quash the decision by the former secretary of state for communities and local government to allow the redevelopment of the former Ministry of Defence testing facility at Pyestock.
Plans for the site were originally lodged with Hart district council in 2005 but were put before the secretary of state after the council failed to decide the outline planning application and rejected a detailed planning application.
Following a public inquiry, the secretary of state’s inspector said: “This is a finely balanced case, but it is my overall conclusion that the identified environmental harm is of overriding importance and for this reason alone both appeals should be dismissed.”
In September 2009, the secretary of state rejected that conclusion and allowed the development on the ground that its benefits would outweigh any harm to on the character and appearance of the area.
At the high court, lawyers for SPLAT argued that the secretary of state failed to take into account “that it would be quite possible for a policy–complaint employment development to be accommodated on the appeals site, generating the same number of jobs, but without increasing significantly the existing amount of floorspace”.
They also alleged that the secretary of state “gave no adequate or intelligible reasons” for his decision and had acted “perversely”.
Following the dismissal of those arguments by the high court judge,
“We now look forward to getting on with delivering the project, providing new distribution space for some of the
“As we move forward, the wider community will begin to see the benefits of the scheme which will bring substantial investment, employment and training opportunities to the area,” he said.
