The appellants challenged a decision of the responders to refuse planning permission for a retail unit to be developed on a site outside the Irvine town centre. The relevant provision in the local plan required the sequential approach to be adopted to proposals for new retail development out with the town centre boundaries. Among the criteria that had to be satisfied was the requirement that no suitable sites were available, or could reasonably be made available, in or on the edge of existing town centres. In other words, town centre sites were to be considered first before edge of centre or out of town sites. The reporter held that the existing but soon to be vacated Lidl town centre site was suitable for the proposed development, although it was clear as a matter of fact that this site could not accommodate it.
Held: The question for a planning authority applying policy guidelines as to the requrement to prefer town centre development is whether an alternative site is suitable for the proposed development, not whether the proposed development can be altered or reduced so that it can be made to fit an alternative site.
Judges:
Lord Glennie
Citations:
[2006] ScotCS CSOH – 165
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Cited by:
Cited – Tesco Stores Ltd v Dundee City Council SC 21-Mar-2012
The company challenged the grant of planning permission for a competitor to open a new supermarket within 800 metres of its own, saying that the Council had failed to apply its own planning policies, which required preference of suitable sites not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Planning
Updated: 09 August 2022; Ref: scu.245476