Excellent news. Whilst I do not expect that we will see production result from the test at Balcombe I am particularly pleased to see the High Court rule in favour of the council. The council staff have assessed the planning application using the regulations / guidelines which is exactly what they are meant to do. Even better it has correctly instructed the planning committee to disregard Environment & HSE matters in making a decision as these issues are NOT under the councils control.
IMO this is a landmark case and should open the way for Council staff to do their jobs without having to deal with claims that they need to rule on Environmental Regulation and HSE matters as well. It has been this matter that has been holding things up.
Extract of the article below
"The case centred on officers’ instructions to the committee that it should assume the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive should do their jobs satisfactorily. FFBRA argued that this was wrong in law. The officers should also not have told the committee it could not take into account key issues including:
Concerns about air and water pollution
The number of objections to the application
Cuadrilla’s breaches of earlier planning conditions
Costs to the council arising from crime and disorder if the application were approved.
West Sussex County Council argued that it had followed government planning guidance. It said it should not duplicate the work of other organisations or substitute its judgement for theirs."
AJL Price at posting:
80.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
