Blackwood's (Dean) Application
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | McCloskey J |
| Judgment Date | 23 October 2018 |
| Neutral Citation | [2018] NIQB 87 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
| Date | 23 October 2018 |
1
Neutral Citation No: [2018] NIQB 87
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
(subject to editorial corrections)*
Ref: McC10777
Delivered: 23/10/18
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
________
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION (JUDICIAL REVIEW)
________
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION BY DEAN BLACKWOOD,
REPRESENTING RIVER FAUGHAN ANGLERS LIMITED
FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW
-v-
DERRY CITY AND STRABANE DISTRICT COUNCIL
________
Glossary
AoHSV: Area of High Scenic Value
ASSI: Area of Special Scientific Interest
BCT: Bat Conservation Trust
BS: British Standard
CEMP: Construction Environmental Management Plan
CJEU: Court of Justice of the European Union
CLUD: Certificate of Lawfulness of Use or Development
DAERA: Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
DAP: Derry Area Plan 2011
DC&SDC: Derry City & Strabane District Council
DOE: Department of the Environment
DRD: Department for Regional Development
EIA: Environmental Impact Assessment
EPS: European Protected Species
HRA: Habitats Regulations Assessment
NIEA: Northern Ireland Environment Agency
2
PC: Planning Committee
PPS: Planning Policy Statement
PAP: Pre-application Protocol (correspondence)
RFA: River Faughan Anglers Ltd.
RM: Reserved Matters
RPA: Root Protection Area
SAC: Special Area of Conservation
SES: Shared Environmental Services
WMU: (NIEA) Water Management Unit
3
McCloskey J
Introduction
[1] This judgment is structured in the following way:
Topic Paragraph Number/s
Introduction [1] – [4]
Leave decision [5] – [9]
The Grounds Reformulated [10]
The Developer [11]
Factual Matrix [12] – [13]
Burden and standard of proof [14] - [15]
Planning History [16]
Ground 1: Implementation of the 2009 Approvals [17] – [32]
Ground 2: The first Habitats Regulations Challenge [33] – [38]
Ground 3: The Second Habitats Regulations Challenge [39] – [49]
Ground 4: the Habitats Regulations Protected Species
Challenge [50] - [65]
Ground 6: Breach of Regulation 4(1) of the EIA Regulations [66] – [73]
Ground 7: Contravention of the Derry Area Plan [74] – [84]
Misinterpretation of planning policy [85] – [89]
Omnibus Conclusion [90] – [92]
Costs [93]
Appendix pages [38] – [92]
[2] In this case neither the Applicant, Mr Blackwood, nor the interested party,
Mrs Deery, who is the planning applicant/developer and participates as an interest
party, had legal representation. As a result certain specially tailored case
management measures were devised from time to time. These were designed to
promote certain of the central elements of the overriding objective: fairness to all
parties, expedition, efficiency and a proportionate allocation of the court’s limited
resources. One consequence of this is that the structure of this judgment is
somewhat unorthodox. I trust that this unconventional format will be of particular
benefit to Mr Blackwood, Mrs Deery and all other members of the non-legal
fraternity who, foreseeably, will read this judgment with interest.
[3] A discrete consequence of this approach is that it would be both unnecessary
and wasteful for the Court to rehearse the parties’ competing submissions in the
body of the judgment. As a result, in a context where the interested party has
consistently made a legitimate plea for expedition and finality, it has been possible,
consistent with the other daily commitments of the Judicial Review Court, to
To continue reading
Request your trial
1 cases
-
Allister (James Hugh) and Robert Edwin Agnew's Application v Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
...Application [2018] NIQB 22, Re Conlon’s Application [2018] NIQB 49, Re Alexander’s Application [2018] NIQB 55, Re Blackwood’s Application [2018] NIQB 87, Re Sands Application [2018] NIQB 80 and Re Greencastle and Rouskey’s Application [2019] NIQB 24. Reference to this recent cohort of judic......