WEYMOUTH and Portland Borough Council has lost a dispute with developers Acorn about whether the firm needed planning permission for its change of use approach to converting the North Quay offices into homes.

A planning inspector ruled against the council by allowing an appeal by Acorn, deciding the firm did not need permission when it proposed to change the use of the building from offices into homes.

The appeal was an argument over a point of law, but the decision is not likely to affect the current situation as the sale to Acorn collapsed last year. The council is still looking to redevelop the flagship site through a public sector partnership rather than with a developer-led scheme.

The inspector decided not to award costs against the council, so a hefty legal bill has been avoided.

The inspector rejected the costs award because he didn’t think the council behaved unreasonably. The planning appeal is a separate matter to a looming High Court battle with Acorn. The developer is suing the council over ‘misrepresentation’ because it understood it would get planning permission for converting the North Quay building when it agreed the £4.5 million deal.

The decision at the planning appeal has been made subject to the condition that no part of the building shall be occupied as homes until the plans for the parking facilities have been provided, and that these areas are retained, kept free from obstruction and made available for the purposes specified and in line with the proposed flood measures.

WPBC’s stance was that the site was categorised as sui generis - or one of a kind- meaning it can only be used for the purpose for which it was built. Although the inspector accepted that the offices were used to carry out many of the usual functions of a local authority, he stated the council provided no evidence about the nature of the building’s use.

He said: “The council has provided no evidence about the nature and extent of the use made of the building, despite the fact that the council has the best knowledge of the use that was made of the building. What evidence exists is that provided by the appellants and from the facts referred to in counsels’ opinion provided on behalf of the council.

“When looked at in its entirety, the administrative functions carried out within the vast majority of the floorspace can be characterised as office use, and the use of the small amount of floorspace by the public and the carrying out the democratic functions are insufficient to shift the balance from use as an office to a sui generis use.”

Borough council leader Cllr Jeff Cant said: “We note the decision, which is not consistent with our counsel’s opinion. This was always a finely balanced matter as is reflected in the inspector’s decision not to award any costs against the council.

“We will examine the decision in more detail in the next few days before issue a fuller response.”

He added: “We stopped the sale of the site to North Quay Weymouth Ltd (Acorn South) last year following their failure to complete the contract which we subsequently rescinded.

“Our future plans for North Quay are not affected by this decision and we fully intend to get the best outcome for the community from this flagship site.”