Last November, Hillside Parks v Snowdonia NPA was heard
in the Supreme Court. Hillside concerned multiple and inconsistent
planning permissions for the same site based in Snowdonia Park. In
this article we will reflect on the practical implications of the
case for the planning sector.
Without going into significant detail about the background of
Hillside, the case concerned a series of full planning permissions
for residential development on a site, dating back to a masterplan
for 401 dwellings permitted in 1967. Only 41 of the houses had been
built on the site but several later permissions had been granted.
The Supreme Court decided following the principles in the case of
Pilkington v SoS for the Environment 1973, that the
development authorised by the original 1967 planning permission
could no longer be built-out, as the intervening development of
dwellings on the site had made it physically impossible to complete
the original development in accordance with the 1967
