The future housing plans of three local authorities could be thrown into turmoil by a court challenge to their jointly prepared core strategies.
A parish council that claims the plans for the Nottingham area will increase the number of homes in its village by one-third, at the expense of green belt land, is asking the High Court to quash the development plan document adopted last September by Nottingham city council, Broxtowe borough council and Gedling borough council.
Calverton parish council is concerned over the housing target in the Greater Nottingham – Broxtowe borough, Gedling borough and Nottingham city – Aligned Core Strategies (ACS) as well as its authorisation of a future review of the green belt in order to accommodate the proposed level of housing growth.
Richard Turney, representing Calverton, said that it and other parish councils were opposed to the ACS, saying: “A particular shared concern is the level of housing, its distribution outside the existing urban area of Nottingham and the erosion of the green belt to accommodate the proposed level of housing.”
Calverton is a village of 3,000 homes which Mr Justice Jay described as an “enclave in the green belt”, but Mr Turney said that, under the ACS, it would be expanded by up to 1,055 new houses in the period up to 2028.
The parish council alleges that the three authorities failed to consider whether, to meet the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), they should reduce housing numbers in order to prevent the release of green belt land, and failed to consider whether the “exceptional circumstances” test for such release was met.
The parish council also says the authorities failed to comply with the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004, and that there has been no assessment of the actual impact of release of land from the green belt.
The three local authorities and two landowners are defending the decision.
The judge is expected to reserve judgment.
