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This was an application for judicial review of the planning permission granted for a crematorium and cemetery in the Green Belt in Gedling. The Council's planning committee had been advised that the crematorium was inappropriate development, but that the cemetery, on its own, was not. Consequently, consideration of the question whether there were "very special circumstances" which justified the development in the Green belt focussed on the need and absence of alternative sites for the crematorium alone. The central question for the Court was the changes to Green Belt policy, as set out in the NPPF, meant that changes of use (such as the cemetery) were still "not inappropriate". Green J. concluded that they were not, and that the advice given to the planning committee was therefore flawed. The permission was therefore quashed. Paul Brown QC acted for the successful claimant. A copy of the judgment can be downloaded here.
