North Wiltshire District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment and Another

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date15 April 1992
Date15 April 1992
CourtCourt of Appeal (Civil Division)

Court of Appeal

Before Lord Justice Purchas, Lord Justice Mann and Sir Michael Kerr

North Wiltshire District Council
and
Secretary of State for the Environment and Another

Planning - inspector - previous appeal decision - material consideration

Previous appeal relevant

A previous appeal decision indistinguishable from the extant case must ordinarily be a material consideration to be taken into account by a planning inspector. Failure to do so exposed the inspector's decision to challenge on the ground that it was not within his statutory powers.

The Court of Appeal so held in dismissing an appeal by the Secretary of State for the Environment against a decision of Mr Lionel Read, QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge, to quash an inspector's decision allowing an appeal by Mr and Mrs Keith Clover, the second respondents, against a refusal of planning permission for a dwelling house on land at Notton, Wiltshire.

Mr Timothy Straker for North Wiltshire; Mr Stephen Richards for the secretary of state; the second respondents did not appear and were not represented.

LORD JUSTICE MANN said that when making his determination an inspector was obliged to have regard to matters including "other material considerations".

Previous decisions were capable of being material because like cases should be decided in a like manner so that there was consistency in the appellate process, although an inspector must always...

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  • Table of Cases
    • United Kingdom
    • Wildy Simmonds & Hill Planning Law. A Practitioner's Handbook Contents
    • 30 August 2019
    ...341 530, 605 North Wiltshire District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment and Clover (1992) 65 P & CR 137, [1992] 3 PLR 113, [1992] JPL 955, CA 150, 286 Northwest Estates Plc v Buckinghamshire County Council [2003] EWCA Civ 719, [2003] 3 PLR 46, (2003) 147 SJLB 661, (2003) The ......

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