Campaigners opposing the proposed Vale of York motorway service area (MSA) have urged councillors to consider what they describe as "serious unresolved legal questions" before determining the application.
Kirby Hill Residents Against Motorway Services (RAMS) has issued the warning after North Yorkshire Council planning officers recommended that the scheme be approved when members of the authority’s strategic planning committee meet next week.
The group’s chairman, Gareth Owens, said an officer recommendation “is not the same thing as a lawful decision”, pointing to the proposed Catterick motorway services development, where planning permission was quashed by the High Court after councillors had approved it.
RAMS says it has submitted two legal challenges relating to the Kirby Hill application.
The first questions whether the outline planning permission has already expired because a valid reserved matters application was not submitted in time.
The second challenge related to the council’s use of a Section 73 application to vary planning conditions.
RAMS argued this could not lawfully be used to resolve the issue. The application has since been withdrawn after the council sought external legal advice.
According to the campaign group, planning officers told RAMS that external legal counsel had identified a court judgment which North Yorkshire Council’s legal team considered meant the Section 73 application could not proceed.
Mr Owens said the withdrawal still left what he described as the key legal question unanswered.
He said:
“Councillors should not simply accept assurances that everything is in order.
“They should ask themselves a simple question: if the legal position is so clear, why has the council refused to explain the legal basis for saying the outline permission remains extant? And why has the external legal advice not been shown to members?”
The application is due to be considered on Tuesday next week.
Mr Owens and Langthorpe Parish Council representative Councillor Mike Collins are expected to address the committee on behalf of residents and parish councils opposing the development.
Mr Owens added:
“The strategic planning committee is not merely deciding whether this development is acceptable in planning terms. It must first satisfy itself that it has the legal power to make any decision at all.
“If the council gets this wrong, local taxpayers could once again find themselves paying the price for another unlawful motorway services decision.”
The service area would provide parking for 364 cars, 90 HGVs, 18 coaches, caravans and motorcycles, together with fuel filling stations, a drive-through coffee shop and amenity building.
Outline planning permission was granted for the MSA in 2021 following a public inquiry after more than 20 years of legal wrangles.
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