A developer has failed in a challenge to the planning permission for a new relief road in Grantham, which is expected to unlock a rival’s massive housing scheme.
Last year, Lang J at the High Court dismissed Larkfleet’s claim that the local authority was wrong not to consider the link road and the proposed 4,000 home urban expansion it will serve as a single “project” for the purposes of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) directive.
Now Sales LJ has upheld that decision, ruling that the freestanding public interest in a bypass to relieve traffic in Grantham justified treating it as a standalone project.
He upheld the grant of planning permission by South Kesteven District Council to Lincolnshire County Council for what he described as a “major road” to link the B1174 and the A52 roads to the south of Grantham, extending another section of road from the A1 to the B1174 so as to create a single Grantham bypass.
He said: “ It is hoped that the Grantham bypass will alleviate current heavy traffic congestion in Grantham itself, which arises in large part because traffic (including heavy goods vehicles) seeking to transfer between the major arterial roads of the A1 and A52 goes through the town centre.”
While he said that a significant amount of funding is expected to come from private developers proposing large new developments in the vicinity, and that Buckminster Estates is pursuing permission for a development of up to 4,000 homes in the so-called “Southern Quadrant”, he found that this was not enough to uphold the challenge brought by rival Larkfleet, which owns other land near Grantham in an area known as the North West Quadrant.
Larkfleet had argued that the development of the link road and the development of the residential site are so inter-connected that in reality they constitute a single “project” or “development” for the purposes of the EIA directive and the EIA regulations. Alternatively, if they are to be treated as separate projects, it claimed that the district council failed adequately to address their cumulative effects.
However, Sales LJ said that none of the arguments advanced supported the conclusion that for the purposes of EIA scrutiny the link road and the development fell to be regarded as part of one combined project.
He said: “The most important feature of this case is that there is a strong planning imperative for the construction of the link road as part of the Grantham bypass which has nothing to do with the development of the residential site. It is clear from the evidence that the residential site could not be granted planning permission unless the link road is constructed, but the converse is not true: there is a strong independent planning need for the construction of the link road (to complete the Grantham bypass) whether or not the residential site is developed.”
He added: “The public funding which is expected to be made available to construct the road reflects the strong public need which is believed to exist for it, which cannot all be attributed to the private developments linked to it.”
He said that the county council has secured agreement in principle from the government for public funding for the bypass in the sum of around £63m, with only about half that sum (£30m) to be recouped later on out of contributions from private developers which it is hoped will eventually be forthcoming.
In addition, he found that there was no error made by Lang J in respect of the cumulative impacts issue.
Planning permission for the link road was granted in November 2013.
The Queen on the application of Larkfleet Ltd v South Kesteven District Council Court of Appeal (Moore-Bick, Tomlinson and Sales LJJ) 6 August 2015
Martin Kingston QC and Charles Banner (instructed by Shakespeare Martineau) for the appellant
Richard Langham (instructed by South Kesteven District Council Legal Servives) for the respondent
John Hobson QC (instructed by Lincolnshire County Council Legal Services) for the interested party
