Judicial review regarded a planning permission for a McDonalds restaurant

A judicial review application regarded a planning permission by Dover District Council for a McDonalds restaurant (Ref: DOV/24/00293). The site was adjacent to a Grade I-listed castle (also a scheduled ancient monument), a Grade II-listed medieval church (also a scheduled ancient monument) and close to a conservation area.

A new drive-through restaurant with car parking and landscaping was proposed. Following consultation, several hundred responses and a petition were received, many of which were objections. Heritage bodies stated that they were concerned that the development would harm the significance of the heritage assets.

The council agreed that it had failed to properly consider heritage when it granted planning permission. It indicated that the planning officer assigned to the case wrote a report for committee which was misleading, as it failed to have special regard to the desirability of preserving heritage assets, including the listed buildings and the conservation area (s66 and s72 of the Planning [Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas] Act 1990). Nor had national policy on heritage assets been applied. The report was also considered misleading as it had failed accurately to record the extent of the consultees’ objections, especially those from heritage bodies, including some diluted information and some complete omissions. The council agreed that it had made legal errors and agreed to the decision being quashed.

Please note that this article is not intended to provide legal advice.

This article originally appeared in the Institute of Historic Building Conservation’s (IHBC’s) Context 184, published in June 2025. It was written by Alexandra Fairclough a member of the IHBC law panel and a barrister (non-practising). She teaches heritage law at Manchester School of Architecture and is principal built heritage and design officer at Bolton Council.

--Institute of Historic Building Conservation

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Conservation.

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• Heritage.
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• IHBC articles.
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