A High Court judge today backed a ministerial statement that changed planning policy to defend the position of neighbourhood plans.
A group of 25 housebuilders and developers had been seeking a court order that would negate a statement made by former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid in December 2016.
According to the ruling, handed down by planning judge Mr Justice Dove today, the department had become “increasingly concerned” that communities who had put in place a neighbourhood development plan risked having their plan overturned by developers if the local planning authority above them wasn’t able to demonstrate a five year supply of housing.
As a result, Javid issued a statement on 12 December 2016 stating that, for the next two years the local planning authority only need to demonstrate a three-year housing supply for the neighbourhood plan to be valid.
The developers brought a legal challenge arguing that the statement was “invalid” because it was “based on an error of law,” “inconsistent,” “irrational,” and that there is a “legitimate expectation that there would be a public consultation before planning policy for housing was changed.”
However, in a complicated, 76 paragraph judgment Dove J disagreed and dismissed the claim.
The ruling is “confirmation of the worryingly wide discretion that the Secretary has in relation to amending planning policy without any legal requirement to consult,” property lawyer Simon Ricketts said, after the case.
Ricketts, who didn’t act in the case, is a partner at law firm Town Legal LLP.
“The background to the ministerial written statement is of course the widespread failure of local authorities to provide for five years’ supply of housing land. The statement in effect reduces that target in areas with a neighbourhood plan that meets specified criteria,” he said.
“The judge concludes that there is no inconsistency with the five-year housing land supply target in the NPPF but many in the industry will doubt that.”
“If I were Dominic Raab reading this in my first week of office I would be beginning to think that however byzantine the workings of the EU, it is as nothing compared to the tiers of English planning policy.”
He said that there is an “urgent and serious need” for the government to state the policy position more clearly, but an even more important need for Government to ensure there is an adequate supply of housing land.
Richborough Estates Limited & ors v Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government
Planning Court (Dove J) 12 Jan 2018
