Supreme Court hears planning case on community benefit fund in first ever sitting in Wales
The Supreme Court is this week (22-23 July) sitting in Wales for the first time, hearing a dispute over whether a council was entitled to take into account as a material consideration the offer of a community benefit fund donation.
The issue in R (on the application of Wright) (Respondent) v Resilient Energy Severndale Ltd and Forest of Dean District Council (Appellants) UKSC 2018/0007 is “whether, on an application for planning permission for a wind turbine proposed to be undertaken by a community benefit society, the distribution to the local community of a community benefit fund derived from the operation of the turbine is, in the circumstances of the case, a material planning consideration which the council could lawfully take into account when considering whether to grant planning permission”.
The background to the case is that the first appellant, Resilient Severndale, was granted planning permission for a single, community-scale wind turbine at Severndale Farm in Gloucestershire by the Forest of Dean District Council (the second appellant) on 30 September 2015.
The council took into account in its determination of the planning application the proposal by the first appellant to distribute funds derived from the operation of the turbine to the local community through a community benefit society.
The grant of permission was challenged by a claim for judicial review brought by the respondent, a local resident, and was quashed in the High Court on the ground that the council had unlawfully taken into account a matter which was not a material planning consideration.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals in November 2017.
A five-justice panel comprising Lady Hale, Lord Reed, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Sales and Lord Thomas has been hearing the case.
Four members of No5 Barristers’ Chambers Planning Group, Martin Kingston QC, Richard Kimblin QC, Paul Cairnes QC and James Corbet Burcher are among those appearing in the Supreme Court.
