High Court success for Shropshire Council in defending Local Plan challenge

On 20 October 2016 Mrs Justice Lang heard the Council’s challenge to the Secretary of State’s decision to grant planning permission at appeal for 68 dwellings on land at Teal Drive, Ellesmere. The judgment handed down today granted the Council’s application to quash the appeal decision. 

The key issue for the Council was how the Planning Inspector dealt with the Council’s figures for housing need and whether the approach of the Inspector was lawful. It is a significant case because the Inspector’s reasoning was then quoted in numerous other ongoing housing appeals in Shropshire in an attempt to persuade Inspectors to attach less weight to the Council’s adopted local plan. The local plan which was adopted only 10 months ago should be the primary guide for where and how development takes place in Shropshire. 

The Secretary of State did not resist the Council’s challenge and did not defend the Inspector’s decision at the full hearing. However the land owners for the appeal site resisted the Council’s challenge and were represented in the High Court. 

Anthony Crean QC acting on behalf of the Council put forward a compelling argument with reference to case law and precedents explaining to the Judge how the Inspector had erred in reaching his decision.

In her judgement today Mrs Justice Lang confirmed that the planning Inspector’s reasoning was not lawful because he did not properly assess the evidence before him and he also failed to give adequate reasons for his decision. As a consequence of this appeal decision being quashed the case will now return to the Planning Inspectorate again to be reconsidered. 

Councillor Mal Price, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning said:

“This is an important and significant decision for Shropshire and I hope it sends a clear message that the Council will robustly defend the Local Plan, particularly where applicants or their agents pursue arguments in an attempt to undermine the primacy of the plan for decision taking in Shropshire.”

Further information:

In the last reporting year Shropshire Council dealt with the third highest number of planning appeals nationally; many of these concerned speculative housing schemes that do not comply with the adopted local plan policy. Despite dealing with an extremely high number of planning appeals the Council also has one of the highest success rates with over 80% of appeals being dismissed.