ABSTRACT
Mr Richard James Joseph McGonnell bought a vinery in Guernsey in 1982. A number of planning applications were made to permit residential use of the land in the ensuing years; they were all refused. In 1986/87, the applicant moved into a converted packing shed on his land. In 1988 he made representations to a planning inquiry which was considering the draft Detailed Development Plan No 6 (DDP6). In his report to the President of the Island Development Committee (IDC), the inspector concluded that a dwelling on the applicant’s site would be an intrusion into the agricultural/horticultural hinterland. The States of Deliberation, the island’s legislature, presided over by the Deputy Bailiff, debated and adopted DDP6 in June 1990. A retrospective application for planning permission to convert the packing shed into a dwelling was rejected by the IDC on 11 July 1991 as the site was a Developed Glasshouse Area where residential development was not allowed. The applicant was convicted by the magistrates’ court of changing the use of the shed without permission, and was fined. The IDC’s application for permission to carry out the necessary works to remedy the breach of the planning legislation was granted by the Royal Court comprising the Bailiff (head of the island’s administration and president of the States of Deliberation, who presided over Royal Court and Court of Appeal), who determined questions of law, and three Jurats, who determined matters of fact. In 1994 a further application for change of use was rejected by the IDC and in June 1995 the Royal Court comprising the Bailiff and seven Jurats unanimously dismissed his appeal, without giving reasons. The applicant claimed that he did not have the benefit of the guarantees of A 6(1) at the hearing of his case before the Royal Court of Guernsey. Comm found by majority (25-5) V 6(1).
