Swindon BC v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

摘要

The local authority had granted the developer outline planning permission for employment development on a site, with 50 conditions. The site was near to existing public highways and to a larger development area comprising housing, employment and retail development. One condition was that approval was in respect of a masterplan which showed planned access roads, described as carriageways with footpaths and cycleways on both sides, leading to the existing highway. Condition 39 stated that the proposed access roads would be "constructed in such a manner as to ensure that each unit was served by fully functional highways", to ensure that "the development was served by an adequate means of access to the public highway". The developer applied for certification of the lawfulness of "formation and use of private access roads as private access roads", arguing that the term "fully functional highways" in condition 39 had related to the construction standard of the roads, not to their legal status. The local authority refused the certificate, and the developer successfully appealed to the inspector, who agreed that "highway" in condition 39 simply meant "road" and did not require the access roads, once constructed, to be open to the public. Allowing the claim Andrews J held: