Court of Appeal agrees to hear case on duty to give reasons in planning

The Court of Appeal has agreed to hear a case on the extent of the duty to give reasons for grants of planning permission, it has been reported.

The case of Oakley v South Cambridgeshire DC [2016] EWHC 570 (Admin) concerned a challenge to the grant of planning permission for a 3,000 seat football ground for Cambridge City Football Club in the Green Belt in the village of Sawston, south of Cambridge. The grant of permission was contrary to the planning officer’s recommendation.

The claimant’s case was that the permission should have been supported by the giving of reasons.

It was the first case to examine whether a duty to give reasons for a grant of planning permission might arise following the abolition of the statutory requirement to do so in 2013.

According to Landmark Chambers, in the High Court Mr Justice Jay found that it remained open to judges to intervene to imply a duty to give reasons, if fairness so required. However, he found no duty arose in Oakley because the council’s planning committee must be taken to have engaged properly with the issues in its officer’s report.

The set reports that Lord Justice Lindblom granted Mrs Oakley permission to appeal against that judgment noting that “the significance of the point raised – the asserted requirement for a local planning authority to give reasons for a decision taken against its officers’ advice and recommendation, notwithstanding the provisions of article 35 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 – […] is a compelling reason for the appeal to be heard”.

Zack Simons, a barrister Landmark, acts for Mrs Oakley, instructed by Howes Percival.

See also: Reasons for decisions in planning by Jack Parker of Cornerstone Barristers, who acted for South Cambridgeshire in the High Court.