Suffice to say, this is far from the first section 73 application connected to this proposed development. And, not for the first time, and on this occasion having reviewed the latest case law for such applications, the Society has submitted a letter of representation.

Attached to our letter was a High Court judgement in respect of Case No: CO/2047/2022 which we believed established a legal precedent that would also apply in this instance, given that this latest development proposal differed in a fundamental respect from the original consented application.

We were also concerned that this latest submitted scheme included a new footpath to a sun terrace from an existing footpath, which would require one or more trees to be removed. There were, we added, plenty of examples where trees were removed on similarly steep terrain that, a few years later, resulted in cliff and bank falls, leading to unsightly rock face netting.

You can read the Society's objection to the most recent previous application, refused just before last Christmas, here.

We requested this latest application should also be refused.

Unfortunately the case officer disagreed. In determining the application he concluded that, in respect of Case No: CO/2047/2022, Section 73 of the T&CP Act allows only a consideration of the conditions attached to a permission and does not allow for a fundamental change to the operative development permitted. In other words, because consent had been given to building a dwelling on the site, a dwelling could be built, even if it was of a different design to that which had been originally approved.

As for the new footpath the officer simply responded: 'As regards the effect on slope stability condition 2 satisfactorily deals with this matter which will require a report and details of any works necessary before any further works are carried out on site.'