Blanefield Property Company Ltd and Salisbury District Council
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice Forbes |
| Judgment Date | 25 February 2004 |
| Neutral Citation | [2004] EWHC 336 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Date | 25 February 2004 |
| Docket Number | Claim No: CO/4154/2003 |
[2004] EWHC 336 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEENS BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
The Honourable Mr Justice Forbes
Claim No: CO/4154/2003
John Pugh-Smith (instructed by Penningtons Solicitors) for the Claimant
Nathalie Lieven (instructed by Legal Services, Salisbury District Council) for the Defendant
Introduction. In these proceedings the Claimant ("Blanefield") challenges certain aspects of the 2003 Replacement Salisbury District Council Local Plan ("the 2003 Replacement Local Plan") pursuant to Section 287(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 ("the 1990 Act"). Blanefield is the leasehold owner of the Old Sarum Airfield ("the airfield") under a 999 year lease granted in 1982 by the Ministry of Defence ("the MoD"). The Defendant ("the Council") is the local planning authority for the area that includes the airfield and its surroundings.
Factual Background. Prior to the adoption of the 2003 Replacement Local Plan, the relevant Local Plan for the area was the Salisbury District Local Plan 1996 ("the 1996 Local Plan"). The 2003 Replacement Local Plan was formally adopted by the Council, following a statutory Local Plan Review process that commenced in October 1997 with the publication of the Consultation Draft Local Plan.
At this point, it is helpful to give a brief chronology of the main stages of the local plan review process. In June 1998 the Deposit Draft Replacement Local Plan ("the deposit draft plan") was published. The Local Plan Public Inquiry ("the Inquiry"), concerning the deposit draft plan, was conducted by a duly appointed Inspector ("the plan Inspector") from October 1999 to July 2000. In August 2001 the Council received the plan Inspector's report, which was then published in September 2001. Consideration of the plan Inspector's report by the Council took place during the period December 2001 to July 2002 and, in September 2002, the Council published its proposed modifications to the draft local plan.
During January and February 2003, the Council considered the various responses and objections to its proposed modifications and in February 2003 it published its Notice of Intention to Adopt. The 2003 Replacement Local Plan was then formally adopted by the Council on 30 th June 2003.
The airfield occupies an area of approximately 57 hectares, located about 2 miles north- east of Salisbury city centre and about 750 metres east of the Old Sarum Castle Scheduled Ancient Monument ("Old Sarum") at its nearest boundary. The airfield came under the control of the MoD at the beginning of the First World War and appears to have been established as a military aerodrome in about 1917 (a status that was formally rescinded in 1990).
In April 2000, English Heritage published a consultation document concerning the airfield, as part of its thematic listing programme. In its resulting thematic listing report, English Heritage acknowledged the airfield to be an historic one of unique importance. Two of the airfield's original hangars still exist and are now listed as Grade II* buildings, in accordance with the recommendation to that effect made by English Heritage.
From May 2000 onwards, during the currency of the local plan review process, the Council gave active consideration to the designation of the airfield as a Conservation Area. Following publication of English Heritage's thematic listing report, on 24 th January 2001 the Council resolved to designate the airfield as a Conservation Area.
It is to be noted that the Compass Maritime site (as to which, see paragraph 12 et seq. below) was excluded from the Conservation Area: see the plan attached to the Conservation Area appraisal. It appears that, on 6 th February 2001, steps were taken by the Council to notify the plan Inspector (who was then in the process of preparing his report) that the airfield had been designated a Conservation Area and to forward to him a copy of the Committee's report (including the appraisal plan) for his information.
On 22 nd February 2001, Blanefield commenced judicial review proceedings to quash the airfield's Conservation Area designation. On 20 th September 2001, the Council conceded that the Conservation Area designation should be quashed and this was effected by a consent order dated 17 th December 2001. A subsequent independent inquiry found that the procedures adopted by the Council with regard to the designation had been "deeply flawed", particularly by reason of the lack of any proper approach to the issue of consultation.
The airfield has an approximate east-west orientation and is a predominantly grassed area, with a grass airstrip for light aircraft running approximately south-west to north- east.
The airfield is now partially bounded to the north by commercial development, part of which is on the south side of the Portway road ("the Portway") and part on the north side, undertaken on land that historically formed part of the airfield, and to the south- east by residential development at Ford, part of which is also on former airfield land. The surrounding area is one of gently undulating open countryside, generally in arable agricultural use, with valley settlements.
The commercial development on the northern boundary of the airfield is accessed from the Portway from east to west and principally comprises (i) the Old Sarum Business Park (also known as the Portway Estate) and (ii) the Castlegate Business Park. Immediately to the west of the latter is the comparatively small Compass Maritime site ("the Compass Maritime site").
The Compass Maritime site is part of the overall area owned by Blanefield and occupies part of the old MoD infrastructure. It is predominantly open in character, although there are two small and insubstantial single-storey buildings located on the site and a fairly small area of hardstanding. It appears that, prior to the 1980s, these buildings were used in association with the activities of the Old Sarum Gliding Club.
The Compass Maritime site is approximately 0.8 hectares in area and has an east-west orientation, running in a narrow strip parallel to the Portway, which defines its northern boundary. It is separated from the Castlegate Business Park by the latter's access road and is bounded by the airfield to the south and south- east and by agricultural land to the west and south-west.
The airfield previously fell within two designations delineated on the Proposals Map of the 1996 Local Plan, i.e. (i) The Landscape Setting of Salisbury and Wilton ("the LSS": see policies C8�9, quoted below) and (ii) as an Area of Special Archaeological Significance. The 1996 Local Plan referred to the important recreational contribution of the airfield and identified it as a resource to be retained, but it was not formally identified for protection. However, Policies C8 and C9 of the 1996 Local Plan did impose a significant constraint on development within the area of the LSS, as follows:
"C8. The Landscape Setting of Salisbury and Wilton shall be as defined on the Proposals Map.
C9. Within the Landscape Setting of Salisbury and Wilton new development will not normally be allowed unless it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Local Planning Authority that the proposal is fully in accordance with the policies of this local plan and no detriment to the visual quality of the landscape will result."
The whole of the airfield site, including the existing commercial development, an employment allocation area designated E3A (a 6 hectare site in the north- east corner of the airfield, immediately south of the Old Sarum Business Park), the Compass Maritime site and the undeveloped parts of the airfield were all included within the LSS and policies C8 and C9 of the 1996 Local Plan.
The Old Sarum Flying Club had always vigorously objected to the E3A allocation, in particular because of suggested difficulties in realignment of the airfield runway if that area ever came to be developed. On 23 rd December 1999, Blanefield submitted an application for planning permission for a B class employment development on the E3A site. The planning application was refused by the Council on 14 th September 2000. In due course, Blanefield appealed against that refusal, pursuant to section 78 of the 1990 Act. In March 2001, Blanefield's section 78 appeal was dismissed by a duly appointed Inspector ("the section 78 Inspector") on all main issues, i.e. prejudice to the replacement local plan review process, the detrimental effect of the proposed development on the character and integrity of the listed hangars and its adverse effect on the general surroundings, the airfield and the Conservation Area.
The deposit draft plan contained policies that repeated policies C8 and C9 of the 1996 Local Plan in all material respects, as follows:
"C7. The Landscape Setting of Salisbury and Wilton shall be as defined on the Proposals Map.
C8. Within the Landscape Setting of Salisbury and Wilton new development will not be allowed unless the proposal is fully in accordance with the policies of this local plan and no detriment to the visual quality of the landscape will result."
So far as is relevant to these proceedings, the extent of the LSS as defined in the
Proposals Map of the deposit draft plan remained the same as in the 1996 Local Plan. The whole of the E3A employment allocation (which had, in fact, remained undeveloped) was de-allocated in the deposit draft plan and a large mixed-use (housing and...
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