The decision in Lee Valley casts some light on provisions of the NPPF regarding when a development can be considered 'appropriate' in the green belt, writes Victoria Hutton
The case of R (on the application of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority) v Epping Forest District Council and Valley Grown Nurseries Ltd [2016] EWCA Civ 404 is the latest in a series of decisions by the Court of Appeal on the proper interpretation of the green belt provisions within the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
It is also the latest in a longer list of judgments in which the Court of Appeal has been asked to interpret provisions within the NPPF, a policy document whose own ministerial foreword claims it is written 'simply and clearly'.
The issue the court had
to decide in Lee Valley was
whether the developme...