The property industry has welcomed the high court’s decision in favour of Cala Homes today that the coalition’s revocation of regional strategies in July was unlawful.
Law firm Macfarlanes, which represented Cala Homes in its claim against the government, said it was great news that the high court had recognised that the secretary of state’s unilateral revocation of regional strategies was unlawful and premature.
Macfarlanes’ head of planning Ian Ginbey said: “Unfortunately, the decision left a policy vacuum, caused confusion throughout the industry and directly resulted in proposals for tens of thousands of new homes being abandoned.
“Those housing proposals will now need to be revisited prior to the passage of any primary legislation.”
The Home Builders Federation said today’s judgment allowed the government to put in place a clear transition to get from the old system to the proposed localism based one.
“This will avoid throwing away the many years of planning for future housing delivery in which many people, including local communities, have invested their time and money,” said the HBF’s planning director Andrew Whitaker.
“HBF and the industry remain keen to work with government to ensure that changes to the planning system are introduced in a clear and methodical way.
“Everyone involved in the delivery of housing, both private and public sectors, has been struggling with the policy vacuum caused by the revocation of regional strategies.
Andrew Thomson, head of planning at BNP Paribas Real Estate, added: “Quite where this leaves us is unclear and it will be very interesting to see how the government and local planning authorities react.”
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
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