City of Edinburgh DC v Secretary of state for Scotland, 1998 SC (HL) 33
Citation:City of Edinburgh DC v Secretary of state for Scotland, 1998 SC (HL) 33
Rule of thumb:Can certain properties which are listed buildings be targeted for work they have to do? No, all listed buildings must be put in a category with all requirements for that type of building objectively – individual properties cannot be targeted and treated subjectively.
Judgment:
Where there are listed buildings then development plans must be followed in ascertaining exactly what work property owners have to do to preserve the features. Certain properties cannot be singled to do more work than others who are in the same class as them.
Ratio-decidendi:
‘...it will obviously be necessary for the decision-maker to consider the development plan, identify any provisions in it which are relevant to the questions before him, and make a proper interpretation of them. His decision will be open to challenge if he fails to have regard to a policy in the development plan which is relevant to the application or fails properly to interpret it. He will also have to consider whether the development proposed in the application before him does or does not accord with the development plan. There may be some points in the plan which support the proposal but there may be some considerations pointing in the opposite direction. He will require to assess all of these and then decide whether in the light of the whole plan the proposal does or does not accord with it. He will also have to identify all the other material considerations which are relevant to the application and to which he should have regard. He will then have to note which of them support the application and which of them do not, and he will have to assess the weight to be given to all of these considerations. He will have to decide whether there are considerations of such weight as to indicate that the development plan should not be accorded the priority which the statute has given to it. And having weighed these considerations and determined these matters he will require to form his opinion on the disposal of the application. If he fails to take account of some material consideration or takes account of some consideration which is irrelevant to the application his decision will be open to challenge. But the assessment of the considerations can only be challenged on the ground that it is irrational or perverse... A view was expressed in the court below that it was not appropriate to have considered PPG6 because it applied to England and Wales and not Scotland. No question was raised in that regard in the present appeal and I refrain from expressing any view about it. The new version of the structure plan represented in the view of the Reporter the Regional Council's most recent thinking on the subject of retailing and it was to the policies set out in that document that he applied his mind’. Lord Clyde
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