Barbone & Anor v Secretary of State for Transport & Ors [2009] EWHC 463 (Admin)

QBD (Admin) – 13 Mar 2009

The claimants, representatives of "Stop Stansted Expansion", applied under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s 288 to quash the decision made by the defendant Secretaries of State, whereby they allowed an appeal by the first interested parties against the decision to refuse planning permission for BAA's proposals to increase the capacity of Stansted Airport. Held: neither the planning inspector nor the Secretaries of State misinterpreted or misapplied national transport planning policy for air transport development. Both the inspector and the Secretaries of State approached the determination of the appeal in accordance with relevant policies as set out in Future of Air Transport White Paper, a material consideration which they were entitled to and did attach considerable weight. Nevertheless, they did so in the context of an overall approach to the determination of the appeal which was properly in accordance with established legal principles. Both the Inspector and the Secretaries of State gave proper effect to the commitments which the Government has made relating to the handling and determination of planning applications for air transport development enjoying policy support in the ATWP. Furthermore, there was no breach of the EIA Regulations 1999. It is clear that both the inspector and the Secretaries of State properly considered the environmental information relating to the estimated emissions from the proposal, and stated that they had done so. Lastly, both the inspector and the Secretaries of State explained clearly and properly their conclusions on the three core matters raised by the SSE that now underlie the claimants' core complaint. For judgment, please visit: BAILII For news story, please visit: BBC Website