Legal advice: ‘Clear reason’ needed to approve removal of Heliport conditions

In a detailed report for MBA, Alex Shattock, a barrister specialising in planning and environmental issues at Landmark Chambers, enumerates 13 different changes the Heliport is seeking to make to its operating conditions in its current Planning Application.

The effect of the changes will be to lengthen operating hours, increase the number of helicopter flights, increase the use of noisier helicopters and remove any obligations to monitor the consequences.

In his report he notes that in 2018 Cornwall Council endeavoured to protect residents from “significant adverse impact”, and Cornwall Council wrote in its planning determination that

 “In order to ensure this, a number of planning conditions are necessary and appropriate to control the number of flights, the type of helicopter , flight paths and hours of operation.  Subject to these controls existing residents would not suffer an unacceptable impact.”

Cornwall Council also stated:

“The proposed conditions are considered to be reasonable and necessary to properly control the proposed development and meet the tests set out in National Policy Guidance.”

Alex summarises his case as follows

1 The principle of consistent decision making is clearly relevant to this application.

2 As the conditions in question were previously considered by the Council to be necessary to make the proposal acceptable in planning terms, the Council would need to provide a “clear reason” as to why the conditions were no longer necessary  for those purposes, not least because the underlying factual situation regarding the amenity impacts on residents has arguably not changed.

3 Failure to provide a clear reason for departing from the Council’s previous planning judgment as to the necessity of these conditions would place the Council at risk of a successful judicial review.

To read the full document, click here.