Cases - R v Newbury District Council, ex parte Chieveley Parish Council

Record details

Name

R v Newbury District Council, ex parte Chieveley Parish Council

Date

[1999]

Citation

PLCR 51

Keywords

Planning control

Summary

Newbury and District Agricultural Society submitted an application for outline permission including details as to siting and means of access. Outline permission was granted subject to a condition that:

'full details of the siting, design and external appearance of the building(s) and other works, the means of access thereto, and the landscaping of the site (the "reserved matters") shall be submitted to the Local Planning Authority not later than ...'

The Court of Appeal held that this condition was unlawful as it purported to reserve matters of which details had been given in the outline application.

The Court also observed that the scale or quantum of development cannot be brought within the words 'siting' or 'design'. So if the authority wishes to limit floorspace, for example, it must not regard it as one of the 'reserved matters' but should attach an appropriate condition. If the outline application specifies the floor area then, unless it is refused or withdrawn, it commits those concerned to a development on that scale 'subject to minimal changes and to such adjustments as can reasonably be attributed to siting, design and external appearance'.