Councillors take council to court

Three members in legal challenge to authority

Three Stirling councillors are taking their own authority to court to rectify a planning blunder which left their community potentially vulnerable.

Bannockburn ward councillors Alasdair MacPherson and Maureen Bennison, both SNP, and Labour’s Margaret Brisley have petitioned the Court of Session in a bid to reverse an approval for Cowiehall Quarry, near Throsk, which was mistakenly issued by a planning officer in July.

Patersons of Greenoakhill, operators of the quarry, had applied for the removal of a condition attached to their planning approval in 1998 which stopped them from importing waste material into the site.

Their original permission required the site to be restored to agricultural land once quarrying came to an end. It was originally expected there would be enough infill material on the site itself but the company have since claimed there will be a shortfall, meaning material would have to be brought in to complete the restoration.

However, an official considering the latest Patersons application took the decision themselves rather than forwarding it to the planning panel and mistakenly removed all the other original conditions.

The error is said to have left the council with few or no powers over the quarry in terms of issues such as dumping hazardous waste, operating hours, noise levels, dust control, restoration and good neighbour requirements.

In a bid to remedy the matterthe three councillors for the area are taking the virtually unheard-of step of petitioning the Court of Session for judicial review, seeking a reversal of the consent issued by one of their own planning officials.

Papers lodged with the court say the decision was made outwith the officer’s remit, was “wholly unreasonable and irrational” and resulted from “serious procedural impropriety” and that councillors did not have a chance to properly scrutinise the application.

This week a Stirling Council spokesperson said the authority hoped to resolve the matter without further court proceedings.

He explained that, following a meeting of the planning and regulation panel, court proceedings were commenced to quash a planning permission previously granted in error by Stirling Council in relation to Cowiehall Quarry.

He added: “The three councillors named in the petition to the Court of Session, and who are taking this legal action forward, are acting voluntarily in the proceedings but very much in the interests of the council and reflecting its aim of protecting the local communities.

“A special meeting of the full council on September 26 unanimously endorsed this approach before the legal action was commenced.

“We are in discussion with the applicants and they are aware of the background, the error made in granting this permission and the court proceedings being taken forward to rectify this.

“The council fully expects to be able to satisfactorily resolve this matter on a consensual basis, working with the applicant.

“However, given the threemonth time period within which any such legal action had to be raised, proceedings were commenced in order to protect the ability to seek a court order to resolve matters and ensure the environment and amenity of the area would be protected.

“Implementation of the planning permission previously granted would still require the consent of SEPA and be subject to its oversight which provides for strict environmental protection while these proceedings continue.”

Cowiehall Quarry between Throsk and Cowie has been operated by Patersons of Greenoakhill for 29 years but was recently said to have just six to nine months’ working life left.