Challenge to PFA extraction permission in the Green Belt dismissed

The High Court has dismissed a judicial review against the grant of planning permission for the extraction of 23 million tonnes of Pulverised Fuel Ash from the Gale Common Ash Disposal site in North Yorkshire. The site lies wholly within the Green Belt. 

The Claimant claimed that the grant of permission was contrary to the approach taken by the Court of Appeal in Kemnal Manor; that the Council had erred in its approach to assessing “any other harm”; had fettered its discretion on the weight to be given to development plan policies; and had failed to consider alternatives, amongst other things. 

All grounds were dismissed. 

In particular, under Ground One, it was held that the Council was entitled to consider the various exceptions to inappropriate development in paragraph 145 of the NPPF when assessing the impact of the development, provided that the development as a whole was then treated as requiring “very special circumstances”. 

Andrew Parkinson acted for the Defendant local planning authority North Yorkshire County Council.