The Court of Appeal has given the go-ahead to a 210-home development in the Suffolk village of Thurston.
Local residents have opposed development in the area which, according to a planning inspector’s report, has a “significant” shortfall of housing.
In 2019, Mid Suffolk District Council gave Bloor Homes planning permission for the development, to be located just outside the development boundary.
Thurston Parish Council challenged the decision in court and, in February, a High Court judge found that the planning inspector advising the council had not properly taken into account a policy in the Neighbourhood Plan that limited development in the village to within its settlement boundary. This meant that the Neighbourhood Plan prevailed over the draft Local Plan.
However, in a ruling handed down today (28 October), a three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal reversed the decision.
Lord Justice Singh, who wrote the judgement, found that, while the planning inspector’s “detailed” 90-page report did not specifically address the policy in the Neighbourhood Plan, it covered all the relevant issues.
“It is clear from the conclusions in the report […] that the [council’s planning committee] were advised that the proposed development did conflict with the housing settlement policies in the Adopted Local Plan and for that reason ‘it does not accord with the development plan taken as a whole’,” he wrote.
“However, the report continued, there were other material considerations which directed that planning permission should nevertheless be granted,” he said.
“I have therefore come to the conclusion, unlike the judge, that there was no misinterpretation of planning policy by the officers to the committee which made the relevant decisions. I note that the members of the committee gave lengthy and detailed consideration to the planning issues before them, as is demonstrated by the transcript we have been shown. I also note that the vote at the end of the day was a narrow one, since there was a majority of only one in favour of granting permission, which again suggests that this was an ‘on balance’ decision by the committee.”
He allowed the appeal and set aside the earlier court order quashing planning permission.
R (on the application of Thurston Parish Council) v Mid Suffolk District Council and Bloor Homes Ltd
Court of Appeal (Lewison LJ, Singh LJ, Whipple LJ) 28 October 2022
