Developer Laing Homes is locked in a High Court dispute over plans for a major residential development in Fareham, Hampshire.
The company is challenging the grant of consent, to a rival developer, that, it claims, “substantially prejudices” its plans for a 210-home development at Peters Road, Locks Heath.
Laing is asking Richards J to quash the grant of planning consent to Pelham Homes for a 260-home development on land to the north of Whiteley.
Pelham was granted permission for its scheme by the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, but Laing claims that, in reaching his decision, the Secretary of State failed to take the Peters Road scheme into account.
The two sites both lie on greenfield land that has been allocated for housing under the Hampshire County structure plan and the area’s local plan.
The structure plan requires almost 100,000 extra homes to be built in Hampshire by 2011, 4,740 of which have been allocated to the borough of Fareham.
Both sites were listed in the local plan and protected against alternative development, with the Peters Road land earmarked for 210 houses and the Whiteley land for 260.
Laing’s counsel, Douglas Edwards, argues that the Secretary of State had not considered the alternatives when he granted planning permission to Pelham.
The hearing continues.
Laing Homes Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions Court of Appeal (Richards J) 13 July 2002.
PLS News 14/08/02
