A hotel which declares proudly on its website that it is a ‘best kept secret’ is set to become an even bigger secret after the High Court refused to block a link road development which is likely to make it more difficult for guests to find.
The hotel’s owner argued that the new highway, which was planned to serve a 930-unit housing development, would be ‘catastrophic’ for her business. Despite council offers to install brown signs, directing clients to her door, she argued that the road would inevitably divert valuable trade elsewhere.
In challenging the local authority’s decision to approve the road’s final details, the hotelier argued that councillors had relied on an ‘inadequate’ officer’s report which failed to grapple with the key issue of the economic impact on her business.
However, dismissing her judicial review challenge, the Court found it ‘beyond doubt’ that the planning committee was aware of the potentially disastrous consequences for the hotel. Councillors had listened to the hotelier’s oral representations and there was no arguable case that they had been misled.