The high court has ruled on time limits for applications to quash development plan documents.
Lewis J dismissed a bid by Nottingham city council to strike out a challenge to its core strategy by Calverton parish council, in which Nottingham claimed it was brought a day too late under section 113(4) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.
The judge ruled that, because the six-week period, starting with the date of adoption of the core strategy, ended on a Sunday, Calverton was entitled to make its application to quash on the Monday, 20 October 2014.
He said: “The application raises one short but important point of statutory construction. By virtue of section 113(4) of the 2004 Act, an application to quash a development plan document must be made no later than the end of the period of six weeks starting with the relevant date, here the date of adoption of the document plan document. In the present case, the development plan document was adopted on 8 September 2014. The application to quash was made on Monday, 20 October 2014. The court office was closed on Sunday, 19 October 2014 and an application could not be made on that day. Subject to the proper interpretation of section 113(4) of the 2004 Act, the six-week period would have ended on a Sunday, 19 October 2014.
“The question is whether, when the last day for making an application falls on a date when the relevant court office is closed so that an application cannot be made on that day, is section 113(4) of the 2004 Act to be interpreted so that the period of six weeks for making an application ends on the next working day when an application can be made? If so, the period for making the application in this case would end on Monday 20 October 2014 and the claim would not be barred by section 113(4) of the 2004 Act.”
Dismissing Nottingham’s strike out application, he concluded: “An application for an order to quash a development plan document under section 113 of the 2004 Act must be made to the High Court. That requires the court office to be open and functioning. If the last day of the six-week period falls on a day when the court office is not open, then, on a proper interpretation of section 113(4) of the 2004 Act, the claim may be presented on the next day when the court office is open. In the present case, the last day of the six-week period would fall on a Sunday, 19 October 2014, when the court office was closed. The six-week period is, therefore, to be treated as expiring on the next day when the court office was open, that is Monday, 20 October 2014. The claim was therefore brought within the period specified by section 113(4) of the 2004 Act.”
Nottingham City Council v Calverton Parish Council Planning Court (Lewis J) 2 March 2015
Annabel Graham Paul (instructed by Nottingham City Council) for the Applicant
Richard Turney (instructed by Public Access) for the Respondent
