Court of Appeal rules on neighourhood forums and exclusion of sites

The Court of Appeal has rejected a legal challenge to a district council’s decision to exclude two development sites from a neighbourhood forum’s area.

In Daws Hill Neighbourhood Forum v. Wycombe DC, Secretary of State for CLG and Taylor Wimpey plc [2014] EWCA Civ 228 the council had approved a local residents’ association’s application to become the neighbourhood forum.

However, the council excluded two sites from its area:

• The former RAF Daws Hill base; and
• A mixed use redevelopment site at Handy Cross.

The neighbourhood forum brought judicial review proceedings over this decision. However, in March 2013 Mr Justice Supperstone ruled that Wycombe had acted within its powers to withhold the sites.

The Court of Appeal has now dismissed the forum’s appeal.

Giving the judgment of the court, Lord Justice Sullivan said the power given to a local planning authority to decide whether a specified area is an appropriate area for designation was a broad one.

He added: "[If] the discretion is not so confined, any decision by the local planning authority as to appropriateness must take into account the factual and policy matrix that exist in each individual case at the time that the decision is made."

The neighbourhood forum has told the Court of Appeal that it does not intend to appeal.

Cllr Neil Marshall, Wycombe's Cabinet Member for Planning and Sustainability, said: "This has been challenging for everyone concerned. At a local level it means we can all move on and work with Daws Hill Neighbourhood Forum to help our district flourish and deliver the key housing and amenities which we need for the future."

See also: Neighbourhood forums and the exclusion of key sites Suzanne Ornsby QC, Morag Ellis QC and Isabella Tafur explain the Court of Appeal's decision.