District pulls out of planning appeal over changes to national planning policy

The authority had refused planning permission for a 195-home development in Moreton-in-Marsh last year on the advice of planning officers as it was considered unsustainable at the time.

The council was initially prepared to defend an appeal of its refusal and had appointed external legal and planning experts to do so.

However, it has now abandoned plans to defend its decision after receiving advice that, should it continue to fight the appeal due to be heard next week, it would now be very unlikely to succeed.

The council said proposed policy changes – including a strong presumption in favour of granting permission for housing development within walking distance of railway stations, and a higher bar for justifying refusals – had made it more difficult to challenge the appeal.

"This is especially the case where benefits include housing numbers which contribute to housing requirement and affordability," the council said in a statement.

Commenting on the decision, the council's director of communities and place, Helen Martin, said recent changes to national planning policy and new evidence about the site "means the council’s ability to robustly defend the refusal at appeal has been significantly diminished".

She also said that testing of the site had been taking place as part of the council’s work to update its Local Plan, in response to the Government’s housing targets.

“The council must leave no stone unturned as it bids to ensure the updated plan is found to be sound following submission later this year,” she said.

Council Leader Mike Evemy said: “This is not about a lack of resolve at a local level.  We were prepared to fight this and had put in a significant amount of work to do so. This is about a planning system that is now deliberately set up to favour housing development, almost regardless of local concerns.

“Housing targets were increased before this application was refused, and since then the government has continued to move the goalposts through further proposed changes to national policy. The cumulative effect is that councils are being stripped of the ability to refuse speculative development.

“It is forcing us into an impossible choice: either concede developments we don’t support or spend vast sums of public money fighting appeals where the odds are stacked against us.”

Adam Carey