Last week, the High Court ruled in favour of Hare Hatch Sheeplands bringing to an end its legal battle with Wokingham Borough Council. PHIL CREIGHTON finds out what it means for both parties
THE WINNER of a High Court battle has said he hopes that the two parties can now put their differences aside and look to a brighter future.
Last week, Wokingham Borough Council lost an ongoing appeal called after Reading Crown Court ruled that it has been unfair and unjust in its treatment of Hare Hatch Sheeplands owner Rob Scott, along with owners of businesses that sublet space from the garden centre.
Reporting restrictions placed on the case last year meant that The Wokingham Paper was unable to report on it, but we are now able to do so.
On June 13, Judge Angela Morris said that the council’s handling of the complex legal case had “only served to make a bad situation worse, especially where they had been in large part the authors of it”.
The council was also criticised for failing to inform Mr Scott and the others for two years that it would prosecute them.
“I regret to say that the approach adopted by Wokingham Borough Council was unfair and unjust,” Judge Morris said last year.
The Sheeplands v Wokingham Borough Council case dates back several years and relates to Sheeplands expanding its nursery and farm shop business into becoming a garden centre with associated businesses including an antiques centre, a fishmonger and a double glazing business.
These had been built on protected green belt land and, although Sheeplands had attempted to get appropriate planning permission, Wokingham Borough Council served enforcement notices, forcing the business to downscale.
It also sought to prosecute the businesses for trading there.
In a long battle between the council and Sheeplands, thousands of members of the public signed a petition of support of the Hare Hatch nursery, which led to a fiery council debate.
On Wednesday last week the High Court agreed with the initial rulings and threw out Wokingham Borough Council’s appeal.
There is no grounds for any further legal action being taken against Sheeplands and now Rob Scott is looking to the future.
Speaking exclusively to The Wokingham Paper, Mr Scott – who launched Sheeplands 25 years ago – said: “I just want to put it behind me and move on.
“It’s a splendid result for a number of reasons: We are no longer threatened by council prosecution. The council can no longer proceed with prosecution or apply to get proceeds of crime.”
“This is why it’s important now for [the council] to engage with us in a positive way. Let the business become what the residents and customers want. We also need to understand what Wokingham Borough Council wants as part of its new local plan.”
Under the consultations, which are currently taking place, Sheeplands has been added to the list of potential sites for housing development, although Mr Scott said he put the site forward under the Council’s ‘call for sites’ as a nursery, garden centre and play area to protect the site. Sheeplands is in the green belt and is protected, although Wokingham Borough Council has been considering a wider housing scheme in the area, along with land in Grazeley and Barkham Square.
“This site has been rolled into the broader east Twyford strategic development location,” he said. “It’s ironic that it could become housing. This is just a part of what’s going on in the local area and we want to engage with Wokingham Borough Council to the benefit of Twyford and Ruscombe residents. We believe it will be nice to engage.”
And with a new leadership coming in to Wokingham Borough Council, including a new chief executive, Mr Scott is optimistic that the broken relationships can be repaired.
“I’ve always felt there is an opportunity for a fresh start, I have to be even more optimistic now and hopefully it will lead to a new approach,” he said.
“We invite Wokingham Borough Council in to discuss what they’d like to see. We can’t survive as just a nursery and with underutilised buildings, particularly with competition everywhere: we’re looking at building a financially sustainable business for the benefit of all people in Wokingham.”
He continued: “It’s a real community facility. We currently have an appeal lodged with the planning inspectorate for temporary permission to sell ancillary nursery related products and Christmas trees in the winter when the nursery is quieter.
“The council would not consider our application. We hope that this will help the business grow in the short term and ask the public to write in support to west2@pins.gsi.gov.uk quoting reference APP/X0360/W/18/3193969 before February 13.
“In the longer term, we will need to be different as a business in terms of what we can offer, but we can also still maintain our core following.
“Our customers have stayed with us throughout. They miss what is no longer here, but they enjoy things like the new butchers. They started in October, but they took an impressive 250 Christmas orders.”
Wokingham Borough Council said that its success in defending the Green Belt from unauthorised development at Hare Hatch Sheeplands, and its determination to continue that protection, remain unchanged.
Executive member for planning Cllr Simon Weeks said: “The Council has been fighting for many years to successfully preserve the integrity of the Green Belt at Hare Hatch.
“That has not changed, and the Court of Appeal made it clear that the injunction protecting the land remains fully in place. While it is disappointing to have lost this case, the fact remains that there was unlawful development on Green Belt and we put a stop to it.”
In WBC’s statement, the Court said it understood the Council’s frustration at Mr Scott’s persistent and longstanding attempts to flout planning control.
However, the Court considered that once other remedies had been successful, including the imposition of a suspended sentence of imprisonment on Mr Scott, the council ought to have further reviewed whether there was public interest in continuing to prosecute Mr Scott and the other defendants.
Cllr Weeks told The Wokingham Paper that the council had been left with no choice but to proceed with legal action because Hare Hatch Sheeplands is on the green belt.
“The council could not simply say, ‘That’s OK, don’t do it again’,” he explained. “The alternative would be the council doing nothing and we have a level of anarchy [in the planning system]. That’s not acceptable.
“In my 15 years’ as a councillor, residents have said that they want planning to be publicly controlled and we cannot be selective as to how we control it.
“Clearly this was a blatant situation.”
And Cllr Weeks is aware that the public has been sympathetic to Mr Scott’s causes.
“Mr Scott clearly has a lot of support from customers but just because it’s popular we can’t say we’ll ignore [breaches of planning consent]. We have to apply the law and that’s what we’ve been trying to do.”
Sheeplands has been compliant with the planning rules for the past 18 months, something that Cllr Weeks acknowledges, and he too is hoping that a new working relationship can be found.
“That’s precisely what we want,” he said, adding that the council would welcome new planning applications from Sheeplands and would consider them as long the meet the appropriate criteria.
“He will have to submit a planning application and the council will scrutinise it, but the council is also obliged to apply national and local planning policies that are stringent on the green belt.
“The bottom line is what he had previously wasn’t acceptable. If Mr Scott can submit something that is acceptable in policy terms, the council will consider it. If it does it differently, then it’s a different matter.”
Since news of the High Court verdict has been made known, some residents have been vocal on social media over the cost involved to the council, with some suggesting that this would be hidden.
However, a spokesperson for Wokingham Borough Council said: “There are some outstanding matters to be determined by the courts so it the final cost is not known”.
The Wokingham Paper has not yet seen the High Court judgment and the comments from the courts in this article come from releases issued by both Sheeplands and Wokingham Borough Council.
