DCLG sees Cala Homes litigation costs exceed £300k even before latest setback
The Department for Communities & Local Government has seen the costs of its various disputes with developer Cala Homes reach more than £300,000 – even before the Secretary of State last month conceded the latest round of the litigation.
In a written Parliamentary answer to a question by Labour MP Nick Raynsford, Planning Minister Bob Neill revealed that there were five cases in which Cala Homes (South) was a party to proceedings against the Secretary of State.
The minister said the total cost of the cases from 7 May 2010 to 31 January 2012 was around £309,000. “The matter of costs in some of these proceedings is yet to be settled,” he added.
The Cala Homes litigation principally involved the developer challenging Eric Pickles’ attempt to lessen the role of regional spatial strategies ahead of their abolition through the Localism Act.
The figure for the total legal costs appears to have preceded the most recent development in the litigation, which saw the Secretary of State last month agree to the quashing of his decision to dismiss Cala’s planning appeal for a scheme near Winchester.
The planning inspector had recommended that permission be granted. The 2,000-home scheme was referred to Pickles in September 2011, but he sought to let Winchester City Council decide.
The Secretary of State conceded shortly before a scheduled High Court hearing in February that the reasons for his decision were not legally adequate to explain it. The DCLG agreed to pay Cala's costs and the appeal will now be redetermined.
The cases are managed by the Treasury Solicitor’s Department on the Department’s behalf under a service level agreement.
In his answer Neill insisted that the current administration was spending less on legal expenses than the previous government.
He reported that the departmental spend on external services from 7 May 2010 to 31 March 2011 was £2.26m and from 1 April 2011 to 31 January 2012 was £1.68m. This compared to £4.8m for 2009-10.
Philip Hoult
