{"id":4543,"date":"2012-08-03T17:12:25","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T17:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=4543"},"modified":"2012-08-03T17:12:25","modified_gmt":"2012-08-03T17:12:25","slug":"judge-rules-council-misdirected-itself-over-aonb-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=4543","title":{"rendered":"Judge rules council &#8216;misdirected itself&#8217; over AONB development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">A conservation group fighting to protect ancient meadows near Bath has won its legal challenge to save land formerly owned by broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) from agricultural development.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Judge Mrs Justice Lang agreed with the Save Woolley Valley Action Group (SWVAG) that Bath &amp; North East Somerset Council had made an unlawful decision in respect of Dimbleby&#8217;s former land at Woolley Lane, Charlcombe, Bath.<\/p>\n<p>She said that the council had \u2018misdirected itself in law\u2019 when it decided that 10 3.5 metre-high poultry sheds planned for the site were not \u2018development\u2019 subject to planning control and so did not require an environmental impact assessment (EIA).<\/p>\n<p>She also found that the council had acted unlawfully by granting planning permission for a stock pond without having carried out a lawful screening opinion whether an EIA was required.<\/p>\n<p>The judge quashed the decisions and ordered the council to rethink. The 20.5 hectares of land was sold to Golden Valley Paddocks by Dimbleby in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>SWVAG challenged the Council&#8217;s decisions to allow Golden Valley Paddocks to keep the poultry sheds, originally intended to house 10,000 chickens, but so far eight of which have been used to house 4,000 ducks, as well as a stock pond on the site.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement the planning authority said: \u2018The council notes that the court did not agree with its interpretation of planning law in this case. The case raised complex issues of English and European law.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The council was required to strike the correct balance on these issues and sought legal advice at each stage of the process. The council has a responsibility to operate within the planning framework, considering the interests of the farmers as well as those of local residents.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The council takes the protection of the countryside very seriously. The council will now need to consider its position in light of the court\u2019s judgement.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Search Planning Portal<\/span>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.planningportal.gov.uk\/general\/news\/stories\/2012\/aug12\/020812\/020812_4\" target=\"_blank\">LINK<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A conservation group fighting to protect ancient meadows near Bath has won its legal challenge to save land formerly owned by broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) from agricultural development. Judge Mrs Justice Lang agreed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=4543\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4544,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4543\/revisions\/4544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}