A couple whose home was so blighted by passing traffic that they had to keep their doors and windows shut have failed to block plans for a waste transfer station next door – on the basis that the development would make little difference to the noise and fumes that they already had to endure.
The couple feared that lorries carrying tonnes of waste to and from the site would add to existing high levels of air pollution and further disturb their peace. It was argued that the local authority had failed to properly consider the environmental impact of the scheme before granting planning permission to itself.
However, their challenge to the scheme was dismissed by a judge on grounds that the ‘marginal’ difference it would make to traffic noise and fumes in the area was ‘too insignificant to make a practical difference’. Dashing their hopes of overturning that decision, the Court of Appeal ruled that the judge had made no error of law and that the couple’s challenge stood no real prospect of success.