Well no!  You would hope so. 

It’s hard to believe that an applicant doesn’t have to own the land or even have the owner’s permission to apply for planning consent.  Strange but true.   

He has to tell the owner he has done so. In this case Mactaggart & Mickel have wrongly certified that they own the land so that haven’t notified the owner that they have applied.  Strange but true. 

The Council haven’t thrown out the application – they don’t have to.  Strange but true. 

Mactaggart & Mickel have done this without having any direct contract with the Council.  Strange but true. 

What will happen? 

We can’t be certain and until the land is irrevocably safeguarded as open space we never will be certain. 

If the Council throw out the application Darwen Developments (Scotland) Limited can in theory start again. 

If the Council stop them making another application they may have a claim against the Council. 

The Council got themselves (us really) into this jam because they entered into a contract with Darwen Developments (Scotland) Limited before they got planning consent. 

To make matters worse it may be possible for the previous owner from whom the Council acquired the land to claim a slice of the action.