A new unitary authority has already found itself in the middle of a High Court legal battle. The newly-formed Cheshire West and Chester Council stepped straight into the centre of a planning dispute. The authority has promised it will examine a High Court judgement in favour of enforcement action against Quinn Glass Ltd, which built a glass-making and bottling factory on the site of a former power station at Elton, without the necessary planning permission. Council leader, Mike Jones, has said that legal advisers will examine the ruling, and added: ‘We now anticipate considering this complex application based strictly on its planning merits.' Construction of the site, which employs around 650 people, was completed in 2005, and the company had submitted a retrospective planning application to the former Chester City Council and Ellesmere Port and Nelson BC.
