South Gloucestershire Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
- MR JUSTICE SINGH
Areas of Law
- Administrative Law
- Civil Procedure
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The court quashed the Planning Inspector's decision to permit development at Sloes Well Paddock due to legal errors in not considering the Core Strategy Inspector's detailed views on housing land supply and misunderstanding the National Planning Policy Guidance. The case was significant for its implications on planning policy and procedural fairness, focusing on material considerations and consistency in decision-making.
J U D G M E N T
MR JUSTICE SINGH:
Introduction
This is an application under section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to quash a decision made by a Planning Inspector, dated 1 July 2014. The initial grounds of challenge have been amended initially without objection. They were further amended during the course of the hearing before this court. I granted permission to make that further amendment and will set out my reasons for doing so at the relevant juncture in this judgment.
By his decision the Inspector allowed an appeal under section 78 of the 1990 Act against the deemed refusal of planning permission for development at Sloes Well Paddock, Westerleigh Road, Pucklechurch, South Gloucestershire. In allowing the appeal the Inspector granted planning permission for the use of the land for the stationing of a mobile home for residential purposes, together with the formation of hardstanding and utility building ancillary to that use. The application for planning permission was originally made on 13 October 2009. On 5 August 2010, the claimant, which is the local planning authority, resolved that if it had been in a position to determine the application it would have refused it. The resolution by the claimant's Development Control (East) Committee set out the reasons, which in essence turned on the fact that the proposed development was inappropriate development in the Bristol/Bath Green Belt.
An appeal was initially dismissed on 19 November 2010, but that decision was quashed by the High Court in a decision given by HHJ Thornton QC, sitting as a judge of the High Court. In those proceedings an anonymity order was made to protect the identity of the second defendant, who is known as AZ. AZ did not appear at, nor was he represented at, the hearing before me on this occasion.
Before the Inspector, this time round, an inquiry was held over 4 days initially on 17 and 18 September 2013, then on 16 October 2013. The inquiry was closed on that date. However, it was reopened and sat again on 1 April 2014. The reasons why it was reopened were explained by the Inspector at paragraphs 6 to 7 of his decision. He explained that on 11 December 2013 the Council formally adopted its Core Strategy (CS). He also explained that on 6 March 2014 the Government published the on-line Planning Practice Guidance (PPG). Of particular relevance to this appeal was the Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment chapter. The Inspector stated:
"Both the adoption of