Corrie, R (on the application of) v Suffolk County Council & Ors
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
- MR JUSTICE CRANSTON
Areas of Law
- Administrative Law
- Environmental Law
- Evidence Law
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
In this judicial review, a local resident challenged the planning permission granted by Suffolk County Council for a waste facility, arguing it did not assess impact on future housing developments. The court upheld the permission, stating that there were no concrete plans for housing, the Environmental Impact Assessment screening was appropriate, and public health impacts were considered. The case clarified the importance of assessing impacts on potential future developments, considering consulted agencies' advice, and including public health impacts in planning decisions.
Judgment
Mr Justice Cranston:
I INTRODUCTION
In this judicial review the claimant challenges a grant of planning permission by the defendant, Suffolk County Council (“the County C ouncil”), dated 24 October 2013. The planning permission authorises the construction of a development for dealing with waste on a site at Rougham Hill, Bury St Edmunds. Permission to apply for judicial review was granted by Collins J on 18 March 2014.
The County Council is both the waste authority and the local waste planning authority for the area in which the site is located. In effect it was granting planning permission to itself as the waste authority to undertake the development on the site. The claimant is a local resident, who is acting individually and on behalf of a group of local residents, including a councillor of St Edmundsbury Borough Council (“the Borough Council”), Cllr Stamp. The first Interested Party, the Borough Council, is the local planning authority for the area in which the site is located, but because it is not the waste planning authority it had no hand in the decision on the planning application. It strongly objects to the waste development. The second Interested Party, Hopkins Homes Ltd, is a developer which is interested in an adjacent area to the south of Rougham Hill which it wishes to develop for housing. It has rights over 50 of the 70 hectares in the northern area of the Greenfield land to the south of Rougham Hill intended for development under the Borough Council’s planning policy BV7. It is in the process of preparing an environmental statement and expects to make an application for outline planning permission in November 2014.
II BACKGROUND
The site
The site is an area of approximately 1.2 hectares and is used by an existing household waste recycling centre (“HWRC”), with the rest being vacant land. It is located to the south east of Bury St Edmunds, on Rougham Hill, immediately to the south of the busy A14, next to its junction with the A134, and adjacent to a lorry park. (The A14 is a dual carriageway and part of the trunk road network which links Ipswich and Felixstowe.) The existing HWRC has been in operation since 1981 and is leased by Suffolk Council from the Borough Council. The site is partly screened by trees and a perimeter hedgerow but there is little or no perimeter vegetation screening along the southern boundary. There are no other household waste recycling sites serving the immediate area, with the nearest being approxim