Law lords pave way for showground development
The final attempt to block plans for two new exhibition halls on the Newbury showground at Cheiveley, which cover 5,644 sq m, has failed.
The House of Lords has backed Court of Appeal and High Court rulings upholding Newbury District Councils grant of outline planning consent for the scheme.
In a decision taken in private, Lords Slyn, Steyn and Hope have held that the planning consent was permissible and have dismissed an application for leave to take the challenge. No reasons were given for their decision.
The final attempt to block plans for two new exhibition halls on the Newbury showground at Cheiveley, which cover 5,644 sq m, has failed.
The House of Lords has backed Court of Appeal and High Court rulings upholding Newbury District Councils grant of outline planning consent for the scheme.
In a decision taken in private, Lords Slyn, Steyn and Hope have held that the planning consent was permissible and have dismissed an application for leave to take the challenge. No reasons were given for their decision.
The plans had been opposed by Chieveley Parish Council, which claimed that the district council, in their original consent, had no power to impose their conditions, and that, in those circumstances, the consent had been invalidated.
But, in the decision now upheld by the law lords, the Appeal judges held that the outline permission for the development should be declared valid, and that the parish council, who objected to the principle of the development and its size, had not been significantly prejudiced by it.
The 54ha development site is within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Newbury & District Agricultural Society has held shows there since 1985. The society’s plans have become more ambitious and it sought the planning consent challenged by the parish council in 1992.
PLS News 18/12/98
