Wildlife den was lawful says barrister

May 23 2008 by David Norbury, Chester Chronicle

A BARRISTER has decided Chester City Council was entitled to issue a lawful development certificate covering a wildlife den.

The application was made at Brookside, Cherry Hill, Cuddington, Malpas.

Planning officers were told the den, constructed on a platform, had been there over four years.

Copies of receipts were provided dating back to November 2001 and it was explained the initial work had been carried out that month. The den was completed in May the following year.

Development co-ordination manager Brian Hughes says in a report the council concluded that at the time the application for the certificate was made in November 2006, the den was lawful. There were no grounds to withhold the certificate.

An adjoining landowner subsequently put the city council on notice that he did not agree with the decision and had not been consulted.

He provided “some photographic evidence” which sought to demonstrate the den had not been substantially completed by the date claimed by the applicants.

They then provided the council with six statutory declarations from a variety of people in support of their case.

The neighbour and his wife responded with statements and supporting letters from other nearby landowners.

“The issues raised by the grant of the certificate and the subsequent challenge are both complex and potentially serious,” suggests Mr Hughes.

“The nature of the evidence presented by both parties appears to be directly contradictory”.

A barrister was brought in to probe both sides of the argument and said the council was entitled to issue the certificate at the time that it did based on available information.

Had the neighbour’s objection been available, the council would have been entitled to seek clarification but he did not consider the council would be justified in taking steps to revoke the certificate.