Retail park developers take their case to the High Court

Outline planning permissions for the proposal, off McMullen Road, Lingfield, Darlington,were approved by the Environment Department in 1991.

The site's owner - Lingfield Properties (Darlington) Limited - now wants to carry the scheme through.

However, Darlington Borough Council said the planning permissions have long since expired, and that any attempt to implement them would be a violation of planning control.

Timothy Straker QC, for the council, said it was a planning condition that the development had to be started before December 14, 1996.

Four days before the deadline, a roadway on the site was marked out and, over the next two days, an excavator moved earth.

Mr Straker said the council did not dispute that those works amounted to a beginning of the development.

However, he said the original planning consents were subject to conditions requiring Lingfield Properties to obtain the council's prior approval of detailed plans on such matters as landscaping, car parking and road access.

Mr Straker argued that, because those conditions have not been complied with, the works, instead of beginning the development, had been a breach of planning control.

The council is asking Mr Justice Mitting to make a formal declaration that the planning consents have expired.

However, Lingfield Properties is contesting the case.

The company's QC, Patrick Clarkson, argued that the conditions attached to the 1991 planning permission had been complied with prior to the works carried out in 1996, which amounted to a valid implementation of the consents.

He told the judge that the planning permissions remained valid and could be fully implemented at any time.

Mr Clarkson said the council's plea that if planning permission was sought today for the development it would be denied, was irrelevant, and said: "The planning merits of the scheme are immaterial."

The hearing, expected to last three days, continues.