Parish council given heebie-jeebies by CBGB policy stance

Plans to build 400 homes in the “countryside beyond the green belt” (CBGB) at Ash are under challenge at the High Court. The local parish council claims that, in granting planning permission for the scheme, Guildford Borough Council wrongly treated a policy restricting types of possible development in the CBGB as of no weight, following the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Ash Parish Council claims that policy RE4 in the Guildford Local Plan remained in force after the NPPF came into effect of in March 2012. As a result ,it says that planning officers were wrong to advise council members that, whilst the proposal would be in conflict with policy RE4, it was no longer to be taken into account. The members voted in favour of the proposal by a small majority, and granted planning permission to Bewley Homes and A2 Developments in March. They had been told by officers that the historic shortfall in housing supply in the area outweighed the general presumption against residential development in the countryside. The parish council hopes to persuade Patterson J to quash the decision and order a reconsideration, which would, in those circumstances, have to be taken with policy RE4 in mind. That policy provides that, on land designated as countryside beyond the green belt (CBGB) – such as the 46 hectares at issue in this case – development is restricted to four types, none of which are residential. Paul Brown QC argued on behalf of the parish council that advice to the effect that this policy was of “no weight” was wrong as a matter of law, or based on a fundamentally incorrect interpretation of the NPPF. He said that the NPPF was an important material consideration to be taken into account in planning decisions, but is not of equal legal force to development plan policies. The borough council maintains that the policy did not comply with the NPPF, and that the permission was lawfully granted. Patterson J is to reserve her decision in the case. The Queen on the application of Ash Parish Council v Guildford Borough Council Planning Court (Patterson J) 6 November 2014