Decision is challenged
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A deputy LA refused two operators permission to use an industrial estate as an operating centre on environmental grounds because he had wrongly considered road safety to be an environmental matter, the Transport Tribunal heard.
Jeremy Fear represented Jonathan Simms, trading as Ilkeston Haulage and Storage and Dennis Sherwood, trading as Sherwood Transport Services. He asked the Tribunal to allow their appeals and also to remit their cases for hearing by a different LA.
Simms had applied to vary his licence and base an artic at Oakwood Industrial Estate, Robinettes Lane, Cossall, Nottingham.
Sherwood had applied for a new licence to operate five vehi cies at the same site. Both applications had been opposed by the county and district councils and by local residents.
The DLA's decision in Simms' case was also flawed, said Fear, because he had refused the application under Section 69B of the Transport Act, whereas variations came under Section 69D. The Tribunal had previously ruled that there was a difference between the two sections, he added.
Fear pointed out that the Tribunal had also ruled that road safety was not an environmental matter, but the deputy LA, Humphrey Lewis, had taken it into account.
The DLA had said that residents were sometimes blocked in by heavy vehicles having difficulty entering or leaving the access road but, said Fear, the Tribunal had ruled that inconvenience in using a road was not a matter affecting a resident's enjoyment of his land.
Timothy Straker, appearing for the councils, said the DLA's reference to the wrong section was a misdescription and not a misdirection.
The inquiry transcripts showed he knew Simms' application was for a variation.
The DLA's references to heavy vehicles having difficulty in negotiating access to the lane, passing in the lane, blocking residents' access, and to several accidents could be environmental matters because they caused extra noise, fumes and visual intrusion, said Straker.
Judge Harold Wilson said the Tribunal would take time to consider its decision and would give it in writing.