Section 70(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 requires a local planning authority, in dealing with an application for planning permission, to have regard to the provisions of the development plan, so far as material to the application, and to any other material considerations. Section 37(6) of the Planning and Compensation Act 2004 provides that where regard is to be had to the development plan for the purpose of, inter alia, such an application, the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. It is also settled law that the need for affordable housing in a particular area can be a material consideration.
In R (on the application of Skrzypczak) v Torridge District Council [2009] EWHC 3139 (Admin); [2009] PLSCS 336, the authority had granted planning permission for a residential development in the open countryside, to include eight units of affordable housing, contrary to development plan policy. It concluded that the units would help address the substantial unmet need for affordable housing in the area and that this was a material consideration of sufficient weight to justify a departure from the development plan. In particular, the authority took into account a detailed 2006 survey that had identified housing needs.
The claimants were local residents who had formally objected to the development proposals. They sought to quash the grant of planning permission by means of judicial review. Their main ground was that since the need for affordable housing was already addressed in the development plan, the authority had erred in considering it independently as a material consideration.
The court dismissed the claim, stating that although the need for affordable housing had been addressed in the development plan, the 2006 survey had shown that the need for such housing had increased since the plan had been adopted. The court held that the authority had been entitled to regard as a material consideration the fact that matters had moved on since its adoption. This was a consideration that could be sufficiently material to warrant a departure from the development plan.
As is so often the case, the judge issued the reminder that once a material consideration has been identified it is for the decision maker to assess the weight to be given to it.
John Martin is a freelance writer
