Allister wins legal bid against hotel approval
TUV leader Jim Allister has won his legal challenge to planning permission for a new £20m hotel and leisure resort on the north coast.
A High Court judge yesterday identified breaches in the process and held that Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council’s decision to approve the fourstar complex near Portstewart was procedurally unfair.
Mr Justice McCloskey ruled: “Mr Allister was not afforded a fair and reasonable opportunity to make comprehensive, informed representations to either the planning committee or the other statutory agency endowed with relevant legal powers, namely the Department for Infrastructure.”
A further hearing on remedies will be listed later this year.
In a statement, Mr Allister said: “I greatly welcome the decision of the court to the challenge I brought as a private citizen against a planning decision by Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.
“I will now consider, with my legal advisers, the next steps to be taken in this matter.”
Together with a neighbour, he sought a judicial review after the green light was given for the development close to their homes.
In March 2018 the council granted planning permission for a hotel and spa complex on the Ballyreagh Road involving conference and banqueting facilities, holiday cottages and a North West 200 visitor attraction.
In a dramatic development earlier in the case, an independent councillor who sat on the planning committee which approved the resort intervened to claim he had covertly recorded relevant conversations with officials.
Padraig McShane said he had amassed hours of material.
Based on those alleged conversations and emails, Mr Allister’s legal team argued the hotel development was seen as key for the borough, contending there was a bias towards securing planning approval at all costs.
However, the judge said: “I am left with no misgivings about the purity of the conduct and motives of the planning officials and planning committee members.”
During the hearing it emerged that a right-of-way at the site was sold to the developer for £1.
Amid Press reports that the access route had been separately assessed as worth more, it was stressed an independent expert agreed with the valuation carried out on behalf of estate agents Philip Tweedie & Company.
The judge said: “The court has no hesitation in concluding that the reputation of Philip Tweedie & Company emerges unblemished from these proceedings.
“There is not the slightest indication of any impropriety on the part of either Mr Tweedie or any member of his firm.”
Mr Allister mounted a wide-ranging challenge to the planning permission, including claims the environmental screening process for the proposed coastal location was flawed.
Despite dismissing some grounds advanced, Mr Justice McCloskey ruled for him in four areas. He confirmed: “The applicants’ legal challenge succeeds on the grounds of procedural unfairness, breach of the planning committee’s protocol, error of law in respect of Policy CMP3 and breach of the environmental impact assessment regulations.”