A council that granted planning permission for “up to six” affordable homes in a rural hamlet in Somerset, following an assessment that identified a need for five, has had its decision quashed by the Court of Appeal.
Lord Justice Sales ruled that, under Mendip District Council’s planning policy, the identified need only allowed it to grant permission for up to five affordable homes on a paddock in the village of North Wootton. As a result, he quashed the permission granted to developer Bridgeman.
Judge Jarman QC, at the High Court, had dismissed the challenge brought by village resident John Harvey to the decision.
Sales LJ said that the council had argued that the concept of “meeting” the clearly identified need of five affordable homes in a 2013 assessment is a “relatively loose” one which calls for the exercise of planning judgment.
It claimed that any such assessment represents only a snapshot of the position at a particular point in time in relation to housing needs, which may change considerably over time, so it makes sense to interpret the policy as subject to this degree of flexibility.
It maintained that allowing of six homes was “well within the scope” of that planning judge, a point which Sales LJ said seemed to have found the favour of the High Court judge
However, quashing the permission, Sales LJ said: “The judge was in error on this point. On an objective interpretation of policy DP12 in its proper context, it only permitted the grant of planning permission for up to five affordable houses, that being the clearly identified need as set out in the 2013 assessment.”
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