§ Mr. LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer on 16 March,Official Report, column 683, on out-of-town shopping centres, what are the implications of planning policy guidance note 13 for his support for the proposed Dumplington scheme in Greater Manchester; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryPPG13 has no implications for Dumplington. Planning permission was granted for Dumplington on 4 March 1993, before PPG13 was published.
The grant of permission has been challenged by a group of local planning authorities in the courts. The group has suggested that given recent changes in policy a decision made on a similar application today would be to refuse. However, this argument is not relevant to the legality of the decision to grant planning permission for Dumplington. The Secretary of State had to consider matters as they were at the time of his decision.