Winchester city council loses legal fight

Winchester City Council has been left with legal costs of £5,792 after going to the High Court in an abortive bid to overturn plans for a research and development facility at the site of a former poultry farm.

The city council went to the High Court to challenge an appeal decision by a planning inspector who agreed that Wickham Laboratories could have a certificate of lawful use which would allow them to use Torbay Farm for "research and development" purposes.

Since the early 1970s the company had produced "specific pathogen free" eggs for use in the vaccine industry. The eggs were produced – and the hens kept – in bio-secure facilitites.

Production of the special eggs ended in1999 and the company applied for certificate of lawful use so it could develop other research and development facilities at the site. The city council refused. But the company won on appeal. The inspector argued that the egg production had been an industrial process.

The council went to court to challenge the inspector's stance – and lost. It argued that egg production did not meet the definition of an industrial process.

Judge David Mole, a former planning QC, disagreed with the council and upheld the inspector's decision. The judge said Winchester's challenge was "fundamentally misconceived".

Roger Milne

27 September 2007