Key Facts
- •CPRE challenged the Secretary of State's decision to grant development consent for the A57 Link Roads Scheme, impacting Green Belt land.
- •The scheme aims to alleviate congestion between Manchester and Sheffield.
- •The challenge raised two grounds: unlawful failure to provide a reasoned conclusion on cumulative carbon emissions and unlawful failure to assess credible alternatives with less Green Belt harm.
- •The scheme involves 22 hectares of Green Belt land, causing harm to its openness.
- •The Panel concluded that the scheme's benefits outweighed the harm to the Green Belt, finding 'very special circumstances'.
- •CPRE argued the Secretary of State failed to properly assess alternatives proposed by objectors.
Legal Principles
Mandatory Material Consideration
R (Friends of the Earth) v Secretary of State for Transport
Green Belt Policy
National Policy Statement on National Networks
Alternatives Assessment in EIA
Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017
Appropriate and Inappropriate Development in Green Belt
R (Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster) and others) v North Yorkshire County Council
Alternatives in Planning Decisions
R (Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport
Planning Act 2008
Planning Act 2008
Outcomes
Permission refused for Ground 1 (cumulative carbon emissions).
Ground 1 is materially the same as the dismissed Boswell case, awaiting Court of Appeal decision.
Permission granted but claim failed for Ground 2 (assessment of alternatives).
The Court found the alternatives were not mandatory material considerations, and the Secretary of State's approach demonstrated no error of law. The case was deemed distinguishable from R (Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site) and Langley Park.