Clints Quarry , A595 Bothel to Redmain , Moota , Cumbria , CA13 0QE

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• The main issue of Appeal A is whether the Authority’s decision to refuse the application was well founded. This will turn on whether the 1974 planning permission was begun prior to 20 November 1979.
• Whether, if I find the 1974 permission was not implemented, it is possible to determine the conditions for the 1966 permission alone.

What decided it

For Appeal A, the appellant failed to prove on the balance of probabilities that the 1974 permission was begun before 20 November 1979; for Appeal B, the Inspector could not rule out an adverse effect on the integrity of the Special Area of Conservation and found no imperative reasons of overriding public interest to justify that harm.

the public interest benefits of the proposal (economic benefits, job support and reduced transport mileage) did not outweigh the adverse impacts of the proposed development upon the conservation aims of the Habitats Directive, so the benefits did not justify those adverse impacts and the IROPI test was not met