Northavon District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment, Trustees of the Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses: QBD 1993

The trustees sought permission to erect a religious meeting place on Green Belt Land, which was refused. They said the council had failed to treat it as an ‘institution standing in extensive grounds’ within PPG2 (1988). The inspector said there had to be a functional relationship between the proposed building and the extensive grounds, which the respondent Secretary of State rejected in allowing the appeal.
Held: The Council’s appeal failed. There was no definition in law of what was meant by the phrase, and in most case this simply fell as a matter of fact and degree decided by planning judgement. The words spoke for themselves, but their application to particular factual situations would often be a matter of judgment for the planning authority. That exercise of judgement would only be susceptible to review in the event that it was unreasonable. The respondent might well choose to refine the guidance to give clarity. Until any change there was no necessary connection between the land and the function of the proposed building.

Judges:

Auld J

Citations:

[1993] JPL 761

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedTesco 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: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.452985