Parish crowdfunds challenge to council over "excessive development"

A parish is seeking to take Cornwall Council to judicial review over a grant of planning permission which it says overrides its neighbourhood plan.

Cranstock Parish Council has launched a crowdfunding exercise to support the action and has so far raised £14,575 towards its £50,000 target.

It said an application for judicial review had been prepared and lodged with the High Court and if accepted the parish would ask the court to quash planning permission for 22 homes.

The parish council has said that planning permission given by Cornwall allows for growth in excess of the 19% permitted in a neighbourhood plan that was approved by a referendum, which already delivers more affordable housing that the assessed needed.

A Cornwall statement said the neighbourhood plan was given full weight in the decision and that although there were two sites in the area where planning permission to build affordable homes had been granted, there was no guarantee that these will be implemented.

“Therefore, the application had to be considered against the actual current local need for affordable housing within the parish, and a condition placed on the scheme will ensure those needs are met first and foremost when the homes are built,” the statement said.

“This is in line with planning policy and does not set a new precedent.”

Cornwall said the benefits of the disputed scheme outweighed the harm and it was not contrary to either the neighbourhood plan or the Cornwall local plan.

The statement said: “The council notes the intent of Crantock Parish Council to seek a judicial review. The decision taken by the planning committee to grant planning permission for this development will be robustly defended.