Appeal was made against the grant by the inspector of planning permission for the erection of four wind turbines. Carnwath LJ said: ‘ It is one thing to say that consideration of a possible alternative site is a potentially relevant issue, so that a decision-maker does not err in law if he has regard to it. It is quite another to say that it is necessarily relevant, so that he errs in law if he fails to have regard to it . .
For the former category the underlying principles are obvious. It is trite and long-established law that the range of potentially relevant planning issues is very wide (Stringer v Minister of Housing and Local Government [1970] 1 WLR 1281); and that, absent irrationality or illegality, the weight to be given to such issues in any case is a matter for the decision-maker (Tesco Stores Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment and West Oxfordshire District Council [1995] 1 WLR 759, 780). On the other hand, to hold that a decision-maker has erred in law by failing to have regard to alternative sites, it is necessary to find some legal principle which compelled him (not merely empowered) him to do so.’
Judges:
Carnwath LJ
Citations:
[2009] EWHC 1729 (Admin), [2010] JPL 341, [2009] NPC 96, [2010] 1 P and CR 19
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster) and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v North Yorkshire County Council SC 5-Feb-2020
The Court was asked whether the appellant county council, as local planning authority, correctly understood the meaning of the word ‘openness’ in the national planning policies applying to mineral working in the Green Belt, as expressed in the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Planning
Updated: 27 May 2022; Ref: scu.349059