Employment campaigners win victory in High Court
Environmental campaigners have won a legal battle to halt the development of Lord Beaverbrook’s former home into a luxury hotel, spa, cooking school and exclusive 18-hole golf course.
Mr Justice Haddon-Cave ruled against Mole Valley District Council’s decision to allow the development at Cherkley Court, near Leatherhead in Surrey, in R (on the application of Cherkley Campaign Ltd) v Mole Valley DC [2013] EWHC 2582 (Admin).
Mole Valley argued the hotel would create jobs. Local campaigners countered that it would adversely affect the landscape and that there was no “need” for it as there are already 141 golf courses in Surrey.
Haddon-Cave J said the case “engages the fundamentals of planning law”.
“Much of the legal argument revolved around whether a ‘need’ for further golfing facilities could be demonstrated,” he said.
“The developers argued that proof of private ‘demand’ for exclusive golf facilities equated to ‘need’. The proposition is fallacious. The golden thread of public interest is woven through the lexicon of planning law, including the word ‘need’. Pure private ‘demand’ is antithetical to public ‘need’, particularly very exclusive private demand.
“Once this is understood, the case answers itself. It is a zero-sum game.”
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