The parish council then accused certain nuns of fraudulently conspiring to get the planning permission by misrepresenting the past use of the school’s playing fields, arguing that getting planning consent meant the order was able to sell the site to developers for £31 million. The court was told the nuns said three acres of the playing fields were not used as sports fields, which the council claimed was untrue, alleging the nuns made this claim because had the area also been used as playing fields, the plans would have been refused under the district council’s policy on loss of sports facilities.