Protester fails to stop Legoland development in green belt

A local campaigner has failed to stop Legoland Windsor Park getting planning permission for a new holiday village in a green belt area.

The development site was bordered on three sides by the Windsor Forest and Great Park site of special scientific interest and special area of conservation. The main reason for the designation as a special area of conservation was the presence of old oak woods.

The planning officer's report recommended that permission be refused for two reasons: the proposal constituted inappropriate development in the green belt, and it had not been adequately shown that the development could be achieved without causing harm to significant trees.

However, Maidenhead Council’s planning panel approved the proposal, saying there were economic benefits and “Very Special Circumstances” that clearly outweighed the harm to the Green Belt.

The local authority went on to grant planning permission subject to conditions to protect “significant and veteran trees”.

A local campaigner sought a judicial review of the decision, arguing that the authority had failed to give adequate reasons why the panel departed from the recommendation in the officer's report.

It had also failed to reconsider the decision in the light of new policy in the National Planning Policy Framework, which required that there be "wholly exceptional reasons" to warrant the grant of planning permission for development which would harm veteran trees.

The High Court rejected the application. It held that the authority had considered all the policy requirements and concluded that the mitigating measures to be included in the planning conditions would ensure that there was no harm to veteran trees.

It was true that the authority had acted unlawfully by failing to carry out an appropriate assessment of the effect of the development on an adjacent special area of conservation, but it was highly unlikely that its decision would have been substantially different if an appropriate assessment had been undertaken.

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