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On appeal from: [2011] CSIH 1

This appeal concerned a plot of land owned by the appellants that had its mineral rights granted to the second respondent. The first respondent, The Highland Council, issued a list of mineral sites that did not include the site under question and declined a request to list it as a Phase I active site, as there was inadequate evidence of the site being worked at any point since 1982. The Council’s response included a plan identifying a smaller “green area” of land within the plot. The second respondent made an application for approval of a schedule of conditions in regards to the mineral rights and the appellant sought a declaration that the council had no power to approve conditions in relation to the land outside of the “green area”.

The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeal – the correspondence as a whole gives no indication that the council was purporting to reduce the existing planning permission to the “green area”. It was also noted that permission for this appeal would not have been given were it not for the exemption allowed for Scottish civil cases. The case did not raise any point of law of general importance and the judgments below set out the position clearly and correctly.

For Court’s press summary, please download: Court’s Press Summary 
For judgment, please download: [2012] UKSC 31
For a non-PDF version of the judgment, please visit: BAILII