In R (on the application of Kebbell Developments Ltd) v Leeds City Council and Collingham With Linton Parish Council [2016] EWHC 2664 (Admin), Housebuilder Kebbell Developments lost a court challenge over Leeds City Council’s decision in November 2015 to allow a neighbourhood plan to go to a local referendum.
The housebuilder had hoped to develop an area known as the Ridge, in Linton, which Leeds City Council earmarked in 2006 for possible long-term housing development. The parish council opposed this and wanted the site returned to green belt.
The parish council prepared a neighbourhood plan (the Linton Neighbourhood Plan, LNP) which effectively stated the Ridge should not be developed. In November 2015 Leeds City Council allowed the LNP to proceed to a local referendum, where it was approved.
The housebuilder argued that the neighbourhood plan was unlawful because it included text in which the parish council effectively stated that the Ridge should not be developed even though Leeds City Council had already designated the land as suitable for housing.
The housebuilder argued the result of the local referendum should be quashed on the basis that only Leeds City Council could decide on this development issue, and it already had back in 2006.
In his judgment Mr Justice Kerr set out the facts, including the designation of the parish council as a neighbourhood area by the city council thus allowing it to bring forward a draft neighbourhood plan. The overarching issue was whether the city council was bound to submit the LNP to a referendum, and in turn whether the LNP was in accordance with local policy.
The High Court held that it was for the city council, not the court, to assess whether the draft plan meets the basic conditions. If it is satisfied that these are met it is bound to submit the plan to a referendum. Despite the fact that there was a relatively minor deficiency in the city council’s decision making process, this was not enough to quash the LNP and the referendum result.
While the LNP included the parish council’s opposition to housing development at the Ridge, that did not mean that planning permission for future housing development of the Ridge would necessarily have to be refused and that the National Planning Policy Framework would allow a developer to argue that the neighbourhood plan should not be allowed to promote less development than set out in the local plan or undermine its strategic policies.
The challenge was dismissed.
Martha Grekos is a partner and head of planning at Howard Kennedy LLP
