FACTORY bosses believe a long-running legal battle over a glass plant near Chester could finally be over.
Staff at the Quinn Glass plant at Elton, which employs more than 700 workers, are celebrating after the Supreme Court refused to give bitter trade rival Ardagh Glass permission to appeal against the latest ruling.
Bosses at Ardagh Glass had wanted to stop Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) from granting retrospective planning permission for the Quinn site, which had originally lacked proper planning consent.
Quinn, which has been running a plant at the Elton site for more than four years, had originally been brought to court by Ardagh Glass over the legality of the plant. A retrospective planning application had also been withdrawn following the successful legal challenge.
Earlier this year the plans were once again approved, this time by the strategic planning committee of Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC).
A couple of months ago the Court of Appeals had thrown out a claim by Ardagh Glass that CWaC had no power to grant retrospective planning permission for the Quinn site.
The court found that the legal position was so clear that it was not necessary to hear from either CWaC or Quinn Glass.
And last week, on June 8, the Supreme Court refused to give Ardagh Glass permission to appeal against the ruling.
Following the ruling, chief executive of Quinn Glass Adrian Curry said: “Common sense has prevailed and having considered Ardagh’s appeal, the Supreme Court has now put an end to this challenge. We are delighted with the decision and the security it gives for the 721 people employed at the plant.”