Double the Appeal

Appeal decisions are like buses, you wait for months and then they all arrive together.  At the beginning of this week Michelle Bolger, who is an experienced expert witness, had four decisions outstanding, one of which concerned evidence she gave more than a year ago.  Two of the decisions arrived this morning within five minutes of each other and in both cases the Inspector agreed with the landscape evidence provided by Michelle.  To the delight of our clients both appeals were dismissed.

The first was a Secretary of State decision with regard to a conjoined inquiry for three separate proposed urban extensions to the town of Daventry.  It was a major inquiry with seven parties, including two planning authorities.  Michelle gave evidence on behalf of Daventry District Council with respect to one of the appeals.  Michelle's evidence on the landscape and visual impacts of the proposal was accepted by the Inspector and subsequently the Secretary of State.  It was concluded that on account of the adverse landscape and cultural impacts it would be inappropriate to approve development on the site untill all possible alternatives had been explored and tested through the LDF process.

The second appeal related to wind turbine development in Hertfordshire and on this occasion Michelle gave evidence on behalf of a local action group.  The Inspector dismissed the appeal and concluded that the benefits of the proposal did not outweigh the harm to the natural and historic environment, to residential amenity and to the Green Belt.  These were the issues highlighted in Michelle's evidence.   The impact on the historic environment had not been one of the reasons for refusal but in response to the evidence at the Inquiry the inspector agreed that it was one of the main issues.

If you wish to download either the decisions they can be found here / here and here.
Michelle Bolger's CV can also be downloaded here and she can be contacted
at michelle.bolger@ lizlake.com