Inner house case in which Tesco sought to have the Aberdeen Local Development Plan quashed. Tesco had obtained planning permission and was intending to open a superstore on a site at the former Woodend Hospital Annexe on Rousay Drive in Aberdeen.  Morrisons had also obtained planning permission to develop a store on a site nearby at the former Summerhill School.

Tesco contended that the Council had acted unlawfully when it adopted the Local Development Plan as the plan allowed for the possibility for there to be two superstores in west Aberdeen. In his report  on the plan, the reporter had been concerned not to open up the opportunity for two stores in the area and the council must have been aware, at that time the plan was adopted, that the Woodend development was proceeding. In adopting the plan therefore, Tesco argued that the Council had contradicted the reporter’s recommendations.

The court refused Tesco’s application. It noted that the reporter’s report must be based on the material presented to him before completing his examination and it was only on the basis of that material that the reporter could propose modifications to the Plan.  The planning authority could only refuse to make modifications recommended by the reporter in very limited circumstances (i.e. that the reporter had reached an unreasonable conclusion on the material before him.)

In this case the reporter had recommended making no modifications to the proposed Local Development Plan in respect of the Woodend or Summerhill sites and there was no basis on which the Council could have altered the plan.

The full judgement is available here.

All of our property and conveyancing case summaries are contained in the LKS Property and Conveyancing Casebook here.