Judges order rethink on student flats

Top judges have ordered council chiefs in Wolverhampton to reconsider planning permission for part of a £40 million student village - which could now leave taxpayers with a bill for millions of pounds in compensation.

Victoria Halls on Wednesfield Road was deemed dangerously close to liquid gas tanks and the Court of Appeal has told Wolverhampton City Council to consider revoking planning permission for the fourth building.

The others are already up and have students living in them.

But planning permission was granted without informing the Health and Safety Executive, which took the council to the High Court demanding it be revoked. The HSE had warned in 2008 that the site was within the blast zone of liquid propane gas tanks 311ft away at Carvers Building Supplies.

In his judgment Lord Justice Sullivan said: "While it was not irrational for Wolverhampton to refuse to revoke the entire permission it most certainly was irrational for Wolverhampton to fail even to consider whether to revoke/modify the permission in respect of Block D alone."

But he said he "accepted that it was for Wolverhampton as the local planning authority to decide what was the best way forward."

The case has set a legal precedent because judges said councils can consider the cost of compensation to developers when deciding whether or not to revoke planning permission.

Steve Boyes, Wolverhampton City Council's director for sustainable communities, said: "The council acknowledges that we made a procedural mistake in the original granting of planning consent for the Victoria Halls development. Our planning committee will reconsider whether to exercise powers to revoke or modify the original consent."

Henry Carver, managing director of Carvers, said: "The current coalition must now pick up the pieces and make hard decisions."