Former secretary of state for communities and local government, Savid Javid, should have given reasons for declining to call in the planning application for the 14-storey development The Cube, adjacent to London’s Paddington Station, W2, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
However, the decision comes as only a victory on principle for architecture conservation group Save Britain’s Heritage (SAVE), as Westminster City Council has granted planning permission and, Lord Justice Coulson said, the development is “likely to proceed”.
He said that, as a result, the challenge to the former secretary of state’s decision not to call in the decision under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 had “become academic”, but nevertheless raised an important point.
SAVE pursued the matter claiming that, based on a promise made by the relevant minister in parliament in 2001, it had a legitimate expectation that, when making the decision not to call in the application in March 2017, Javid would give his reasons for doing so.
While accepting that this had been the practice for many years, the government argued that it came to an end in 2014, and that SAVE should have been aware of this.
SAVE claimed that, as a matter of principle, a published policy cannot be withdrawn or overturned by an unpublished practice, and today the court found in the campaign group’s favour.
Granting a declaration that reasons should have been given, Lord Justice Coulson said that the legitimate expectation had not been brought to an end in 2014, finding: “An unequivocal promise was made, and that unequivocal promise should have been publicly withdrawn when (or if) a conscious decision was taken to no longer give reasons for not calling in applications under section 77.”
The judge said that SAVE had opposed the development of the glass tower, designed by Renzo Piano, but added: “However, whatever the rights and wrongs of the campaign against the development, it has to be acknowledged that the development is now likely to go ahead.”
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