Council fails in challenge to decision by inspector to grant permission for 29 homes

Cheshire East Council has failed in a High Court challenge to a planning inspector’s decision to grant a developer outline planning permission for 29 dwellings on appeal.

The local authority had applied pursuant to Section 288 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 for an order quashing the decision of the inspector.

The central issue in Cheshire East Council v Secretary of State for Housing Communities & Local Government & Anor [2018] EWHC 2906 (Admin) was whether the inspector misunderstood and / or misapplied paragraph 47 of the National Planning Policy Framework, “in particular, the requirement for local planning authorities to demonstrate a five year deliverable housing supply”. (Judge’s emphasis)

The grounds of challenge before the Court were that the inspector erred in law in granting planning permission because he:

i) misinterpreted the NPPF in relation to the circumstances when the presumption in favour of granting permission, known as the "tilted balance", in paragraph 14 is to be applied and thereby applied the tilted balance on a precautionary basis;

ii) misinterpreted the NPPF and the National Planning Practice Guidance as requiring the claimant to provide "robust, up to date evidence to support the deliverability" of housing in respect of all sites within the housing supply upon which it relied; and

iii) failed to provide adequate reasons.

Justice Thornton QC, sitting as a Deputy High Court judge, dismissed the claim.