By Victoria Weldon
North Lanarkshire Council could be forced to pay out a substantial legal bill after losing a court battle over controversial plans to extend a retail park.
Council officials had granted planning permission for a cinema, hotel and food and retail outlets to be added to Westway Retail Park in Cumbernauld, but the owners of a shopping mall in the town centre challenged the move at the Court of Session.
The court ruled against the council’s decision and found that its reasons for granting permission were “perverse and inadequate” and “materially flawed”.
In a written judgment on the case, Lord Burns stated: “I find that the respondents (North Lanarkshire Council) failed to fulfil their statutory duties under the 1997 Act; that they erred in law; that they failed to give proper reasons; and that they acted unreasonably.”
He ordered that the council should now “re-examine the application”.
The retail park, around 1.8 miles from the town centre, currently has a number of home and DIY stores on site.
However Dutch firm Promontoria Holdings applied for planning permission to extend it and develop a number of other leisure and shopping outlets.
The council’s planning committee approved the plans in June last year but the owners of the town’s Antonine Shopping Centre, Bridges Antonine LLP, sought a judicial review of the decision.
They claimed that, as the council had failed to carry out a Retail Impact Assessment, officials “acted unreasonably and perversely in concluding that the Westway proposal could be developed without detriment to Cumbernauld Town Centre”.
Lord Burns agreed and found that the local authority failed to properly assess the impact the proposal would have on Cumbernauld town centre, adding that the centre had problems with “retail contraction and vacancy issues”.
He also found that councillors were not provided with sufficient information to make their decision.
The council could now be forced to pay Bridges Antonine’s legal costs in the case, as well as paying for their own legal fees at the expense of the taxpayer.
This is likely to run to tens of thousands of pounds.
Tom Tyler, Investment Director at Bridges Antonine, claimed planners failed to listen to their concerns and left them no option but to pursue legal action.
He said: “We are delighted the Court of Session has agreed with what we told the council from day one, namely that councillors had not been provided with the correct information.
“This led them to make a decision which would have had a catastrophic impact on Cumbernauld Town Centre.
“We consistently sought to find a solution to this issue but planners failed to listen to our concerns and forced us to take legal action.
“This will result in significant costs which will be picked up by council tax payers of North Lanarkshire.
“Hopefully, this will be the end of the matter and the council can now focus on working alongside us, in these incredibly challenging times.
“It is more important than ever that national planning policies restricting further out of town development are respected so that we can focus on delivering a successful future for Cumbernauld Town Centre which will benefit every resident and the local economy.”
A North Lanarkshire Council spokeswoman said: “We note the court’s decision, are examining it and will determine our next steps in due course.”
The decision comes just two months after The Herald revealed the council’s plans to re-imagine its town centres by clearing out traditional shopping streets and to make way for homes and “town hubs” – complexes which will incorporate multi-school campuses and other public services.
North Lanarkshire’s chief executive Des Murray told of his plans to draw people back to town centres to live, work and study, not just to shop.
Detailing the decline of town centres and high streets in recent years, he said: “What do we do? Do we step away from it and let it lowly decline.
“Or do we step in to that space and do something fundamental to change its future?”
The new vision is planned for eight town centres - and Cumbernauld is one of them.
These new, innovative developments – including inevitable mass demolitions – will be paid for out of a £3.5 billion decade-long capital investment programme.
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