LAND INCLUDED WITHIN GREEN BELT BOUNDARIES IN LOCAL PLAN WITHOUT REGARD TO KEY POLICIES IN PPG 2

The High Court has held that a local authority was entitled to adopt a local plan including particular land within the green belt without having regard to key policies in Planning Policy Guidance 2. The court considered that the inclusion of the land was part of the detailed fixing of boundaries of the Green Belt which had not been fixed previously rather than a change to the fixed boundaries which would have required consideration of the text of exceptional necessity.

The court considered the question of whether or not the boundaries had been fixed at the time of adopting the previous local plan was a question of fact and that on the facts no final decision had been reached in respect of the precise boundaries of the Green Belt relating to the area of land which included the appeal site. Therefore, the inclusion of the land in the local plan as part of the Green Belt was a final fixing of the boundaries and not a change to the fixed boundaries.

David Wilson Estates Ltd v. Mid Bedfordshire District Council [2007] EWHC 266 (admin)

Robin Purchas QC and Saira Kabir Sheikh appeared on behalf of David Wilson Estates Ltd.