Developer Bellway Homes Ltd is challenging a decision by West Berkshire Council to refuse permission for a housing development at Thatcham, Berkshire, after a planning inspector had given consent.
Following their adoption of the West Berkshire local plan on 14 June 2002, the council declined to grant planning permission for the proposed development at Siege Cross Farm, Thatcham. The scheme contemplated the construction of 550 dwellings, with garages, parking, access roads, community facilities and landscaping.
The councils decision reversed an earlier recommendation by an inspector to allow the development. The inspector had rejected claims by Thatcham Town Council that further large-scale development would have an unacceptable effect upon local services.
The council claimed that their decision was based upon an expectation that a site at Thatcham MoD Depot would become available and would provide a similar number of dwellings within the plan period. In those circumstances, they contended that there was a reduced need to allocate other land.
In the High Court, Reuben Taylor, counsel for Bellway, argued that the council had acted perversely in deciding not to accept the inspector’s recommendation, and that they had exceeded their powers under Part II of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
He said that the council had based their estimate of housing demand upon figures derived from regional guidance produced by the government in 1994, and had not taken account of the additional demand for housing that had arisen following the grant of planning permission for a number of commercial developments in the area, particularly the Vodafone headquarters.
The hearing continues.
Bellway Homes Ltd v West Berkshire Council Queens Bench Division: Administrative Court (Newman J) 11 December 2002.
Reuben Taylor (instructed by Shoosmiths, of Northampton) appeared for the claimant; James Strachan (instructed by Lester Aldridge, of Southampton) appeared for the defendants.
PLS News 12/12/02
