Referendum on neighbourhood plan to go ahead with judicial review looming

A referendum on the first neighbourhood plan in Cheshire will go ahead as planned later this month after a council and developers struck a deal on the timetable of future legal action.

The three companies – Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Homes and Wainhomes – had applied for an interim injunction against Cheshire West and Chester Council and its chief executive that would have obliged them to suspend a ballot on the Tattenhall Neighbourhood Plan. The ballot is set to take place on 24 October.

In a letter before claim issued earlier this month, the developers had put forward a number of technical grounds for a judicial review. They also questioned the impartiality of the independent examiner, Nigel McGurk, an allegation that was vigorously denied on his behalf.

Following discussions with the council, the companies have agreed to withdraw their application for an injunction. An urgent hearing had been scheduled for today (18 October) before His Honour Judge Pelling QC at the High Court in Manchester.

Cheshire West has meanwhile agreed that it will not oppose a High Court order requiring it not to ‘make’ the plan until judicial review proceedings are finally determined by the High Court or the until the court orders otherwise.

The three developers are seeking to challenge the decision by Cheshire West’s Executive on 4 September to agree the draft neighbourhood plan.

As currently drafted, the plan says that “large scale, inappropriate development along existing village boundaries will not be supported by the community”. It suggests that future development is limited to housing groups of no more than 30.

Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Homes and Wainhomes are respectively seeking to build sites with 110, 137 and 68 homes.

Cheshire West has maintained that it has every confidence in its choice of examiner and has totally rejected claims of ‘apparent bias’.

The authority said it would resist the judicial review challenge.