SAVE Britain’s Heritage has secured a landmark judgement against the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which will introduce new controls over demolitions of buildings and structures under UK planning law. The case revolved around the decision by Lancaster City Council to authorise the demolition, without prior approval, of the historic Mitchell’s Brewery building, situated in the contested ‘Canal Corridor’ area of the city. While the brewery has since been listed, SAVE’s legal team sought a landmark ruling at the Court of Appeal. The result of the judgement is to bring, for the first time, all demolitions into the scope of a European Directive (the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive) governing the environmental effects of building projects and other schemes and interventions in the environment.
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