Rame Head planning decision on 'iconic' coastal area quashed by High Court

One objector described the wider area as "the most beautiful in Cornwall"

The High Court has struck down planning approval for a four-bedroom house in an "iconic" protected coastal area.

Cornwall Council had previously given the go ahead for the new build on Rame Head Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), despite its own planning officer recommending refusal.

The local authority was taken to court by the Rame Protection Group (RPG).

The judicial review concluded the council had offered "no explanation" to justify building in a protected area.

The RPG argued Cornwall Council had failed to "provide adequate reasons for its decision to set aside the professional judgments" of its planning officer.

Its second argument was based on the grounds the council had failed to demonstrate the decision to approve the proposal was in line with its own planning policy.

Cornwall Council was taken to court over the plans by the Rame Protection Group

In her judgement, the Hon Mrs Justice Tipples quashed the plans after accepting both arguments put forward by the group.

Regarding the first complaint, the judge wrote: "There is no explanation which identifies the reasons why the proposed development justified damaging the AONB, an area which enjoys the highest level of landscape protection."

On the second, she said Cornwall Council had failed to establish an "essential need" to justify building on a protected area under its own planning policy.

'Far-reaching implications'

The Rame Protection Group said the judgement to quash plans to build on the "unspoilt, iconic headland" at the heart of the peninsula has "far-reaching implications for the protection of AONBs in Cornwall and beyond".

"It re-asserts the critical importance of the protective umbrella that the AONB offers when it comes to developments in the open countryside," a group spokesperson said