Daventry District Council has won a Court of Appeal battle to stop 121 homes being built in fields on the outskirts of the small village of Weedon.
Three judges at the Court of Appeal ruled today that planning permission for the development, proposed by Gladman Developments Limited, should be quashed and a planning inspector should should reconsider whether the project should be approved.
The development has flip-flopped through the planning process. The council initially refused developers permission, but the developers appealed and a planning inspector approved the project. The council appealed to the High Court. Last year Lang J ruled that the case should be sent to another planning inspector for reconsideration. Gladman Developments appealed the judgment in an attempt to recover planning permission without another planning inquiry. The judges today rejected the appeal.
Today’s ruling, written by Lord Justice Sales, says that the decision letter written by the planning inspector was too flawed to be allowed to stand, even when “read benevolently”.
“It is clear that that the planning inspector has failed to grapple with the issue” raised by an important section of planning legislation.
In particular, the inspector didn’t properly consider parts of the the council’s development plan that sought to curtail development in four villages, one of which is Weedon.
The proposed development was to be built on a 7.72ha collection of fields to the south of the village of Weedon. The fields contain earthworks, a ridge and a furrow, the ruling said.
Daventry District Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Gladman Developments Limited, Court of Appeal (Patten LJ, Sales LJ, Richards LJ) 23 November 2016
