An application for submission of details supporting an application for outline planning permission had been made within the time limit. However, following an inquiry the Secretary of State had indicated that approval would be appropriate in respect of a more limited area, and had invited submission of detailed plans and information relating to the reduced area. The authority argued that such an amendment would be outside the scope of the original permission. They accepted that an amendment was possible within the three-year period, but submitted that once that period had come to an end no amendment whatever could validly be made.
Held: The argument was rejected. Lord Keith said: ‘It is to be observed that neither in the Act of 1972 nor in the Order of 1975 is any procedure laid down for the manner in which applications of this nature are to be dealt with, apart from the provisions about entry in the register. This is not a field in which technical rules would be appropriate, there being no contested lis between opposing parties. The planning authority must simply deal with the application procedurally in a way which is just to the applicant in all the circumstances. That being so, there is no good reason why amendment of the application should not be permitted at any stage, if that should prove necessary in order that the whole merits of the application should be properly ascertained and decided upon . . ‘
Judges:
Lord Keith
Citations:
(1981) 43 P and CR 375
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and Another CA 24-Feb-2005
The court was asked as to the power to amend an application for registration of land as a village green, in the absence of any specific provision in the regulations permitting amendment. Guidance was sought for practitioners. . .
Cited – Trail Riders Fellowship and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Dorset County Council SC 18-Mar-2015
Objection had been made that a plan, used to register a right of way before it would disappear if un-registered, was to the wrong scale and that therefore the application was ineffetive.
Held: The Council’s appeal failed. The plan was too . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Scotland, Planning
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.565106
