No room for doubt

The Court of Appeal heard and decided an appeal on 24 June 2011 between Garner and Others (appellant) and Elmbridge Borough Council and Others (respondent), with Gladedale Group Ltd and Network Rail Infrastructure (interested parties) (Garner and Ors v Elmbridge Borough Council and Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 891). The appellant had brought proceedings for judicial review of a decision by the council as local planning authority to grant permission for development at Hampton Court station at East Molesey in Surrey, situated on the south bank of the Thames directly opposite Hampton Court Palace. Ouseley J, in the administrative court of the Queen’s Bench Division, dismissed the application, and the appellant appealed, again unsuccessfully. The judgments do full justice to the presentation and analysis by all parties of the legal issues and the planning problems involved, which are complex (maybe more so in theory than practice).

Part of that complexity comes from the fact that the appellant, Keith Garner, with a