District council fends off legal challenge to its core strategy

A district council in the East of England has successfully fought off a legal challenge to its Core Strategy.

Rochford District Council had formally adopted the Rochford Core Strategy (RCS) in December 2011, after the Planning Inspectorate concluded that the plan was sound and legally compliant.

The following month, developer Cogent Land launched legal proceedings in a bid to have certain policies in the document – including in relation to the allocation of new homes – quashed. Other parts of the RCS, which sets out how the area will develop over the next 15 years, were unaffected.

The claimant had bought 20 hectares of agricultural, green belt land in East Rochford in 2008. The acquisition was made when the RCS was in the early stages of evolution and no decisions had been taken.

The developer had submitted a planning application for residential development on the site. But the land was not contained in the Core Strategy.

Cogent contended that the council had acted unlawfully in relation to the production of the RCS on two grounds. These were that the council had:

• "Failed to comply with the legal requirements for sustainability appraisal and strategic environmental assessment of proposals in the RCS in respect of the allocation of housing sites within the housing chapter by reference both to European and domestic legislation; and
• Adopted the failures, or alternatively failed to remedy the errors and omissions of the Insepector and/or the Examination in Public process."

The case was heard over two days in Cardiff on 31 May and 1 June 2012.

The judge last week ruled in favour of Rochford.

Its Leader, Cllr Terry Cutmore, said: “This is fantastic news both for the council and for residents who have been living with the uncertainty this latest legal challenge has brought.”

Cllr Keith Hudson, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transportation, said: “We’re delighted, but not surprised to see that the judge has agreed, in substance, with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government that our plans are ‘sound’ and ‘legally compliant’.

“Rochford District Council’s Core Strategy represents five years of hard work, proper community engagement and careful planning by both officers and elected members; it has undergone examination and scrutiny at every stage and has been found to be a robust document clearly setting out our plans for the future of the district.”