A campaign group fighting to save the parkland known as Cloakham Lawns outside Axminster has launched a legal challenge to East Devon district council’s decision to grant planning permission to build up to 400 homes there.
The Save Our Parkland group is asking Judge Sycamore to quash the outline planning permission granted to the owner of the land, Axminster Carpets Ltd, in March 2011.
The group, which was set up by residents fighting to preserve the Cloakham Lawns parklands and meadows as open space and to promote a North-South relief road for Axminster, hopes the judge will order the council to reconsider the application.
It says that the development will lead to unacceptable loss of the parkland and will also be less likely to raise funds for the desired eastern bypass than if a site was chosen on the eastern side of Axminster. As a result, it says that the relief road would only be built much later, if at all.
It claims that the key questions of where in Axminster future housing development should take place and how many houses were needed were supposed to be decided through the council’s development of a Core Strategy following extensive public consultation between September and November 2010.
However, it says that the council’s development control committee decided to grant planning permission to Axminster Carpets on 21 September 2010, barely two weeks into the consultation process.
It claims that, whilst publicly the council raised expectations that alternative sites would be considered in the Core Strategy process, in private it conducted secret discussions with Axminster Carpets’ planning consultants encouraging it to apply for planning permission.
The group says that residents and Axminster Town Council had a legitimate expectation that the district council would make the strategic decision on the future of housing development in Axminster following consultation as part of the Core Strategy, which forms part of the Local Development Framework process.
However, it claims that the decision to grant planning permission frustrated that legitimate expectation, was an unfair abuse of power and was unlawful.
The hearing is scheduled to last two days, after which the judge is expected to reserve his decision.
Save Our Parkland Appeal Ltd v East Devon District Council Administrative (Judge Sycamore) 4 December 2012
A campaign group fighting to save the parkland known as Cloakham Lawns outside Axminster has launched a legal challenge to East Devon district council’s decision to grant planning permission to build up to 400 homes there. The Save Our Parkland group is asking Judge Sycamore to quash the outline planning permission granted to the owner of the land, Axminster Carpets Ltd, in March 2011. The group, which was set up by residents fighting to preserve the Cloakham Lawns parklands and meadows as open space and to promote a North-South relief road for Axminster, hopes the judge will order the council to reconsider the application. It says that the development will lead to unacceptable loss of the parkland and will also be less likely to raise funds for the desired eastern bypass than if a site was chosen on the eastern side of Axminster. As a result, it says that the relief road would only be built much later, if at all. It claims that the key questions of where in Axminster future housing development should take place and how many houses were needed were supposed to be decided through the council’s development of a Core Strategy following extensive public consultation between September and November 2010. However, it says that the council’s development control committee decided to grant planning permission to Axminster Carpets on 21 September 2010, barely two weeks into the consultation process. It claims that, whilst publicly the council raised expectations that alternative sites would be considered in the Core Strategy process, in private it conducted secret discussions with Axminster Carpets’ planning consultants encouraging it to apply for planning permission. The group says that residents and Axminster Town Council had a legitimate expectation that the district council would make the strategic decision on the future of housing development in Axminster following consultation as part of the Core Strategy, which forms part of the Local Development Framework process. However, it claims that the decision to grant planning permission frustrated that legitimate expectation, was an unfair abuse of power and was unlawful. The hearing is scheduled to last two days, after which the judge is expected to reserve his decision. Save Our Parkland Appeal Ltd v East Devon District Council Administrative (Judge Sycamore) 4 December 2012