Cala appeal dismissed in court
A developer has lost its appeal against communities secretary Eric Pickles’ decision to scrap regional planning targets.
Cala Homes’ appeal against scrapping the targets in the regional spatial strategies concluded earlier this month in the Royal Courts of Justice. It is the latest in a long-running battle between the developer and Mr Pickles.
Cala objected to Mr Pickles’ plan to abolish the targets in July 2010 because its plans for a 2,000-home scheme in Winchester had been rejected. The developer wanted to appeal the decision, but it argued that this was impossible without any firm national planning policy to judge it against.
In November, the High Court ruled that Mr Pickles’ decision was unlawful. Soon after, Steve Quartermain, chief planner at the Communities and Local Government department, sent a letter to councils telling them to take the intention to revoke the strategies through the Localism Bill as a ‘material consideration’, even though the Localism Bill has not received royal assent.
Cala challenged this advice in January, arguing it should be withdrawn. It lost the case, but lodged an appeal, which was heard earlier this month.
Although they lost the appeal, the judge did praise the clarification that the case brought to the issue, but said that in some cases it would be relevant to take the intention to scrap the RSS.
Ian Ginbey, head of planning at Clyde & Co LLP (who acts for Cala) commented: ‘This is an important decision which fully vindicates Cala’s action in challenging the government’s approach, and seeking to restore clarity to the planning system.
‘Whilst finding that it would not be right to say that the intention to revoke Regional Strategies could never be a material consideration, the Court of Appeal has emphasised that, at present, only in extreme circumstances can any significant weight be attached to the Government’s intention given: (i) the stage that the Localism Bill has reached in the parliamentary process; and (ii) the need for the government to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the effects of the revocation of each Regional Strategy.
‘The Court has also held that, even when a decision maker is proposing to give some weight to the Government’s intention, it should give very clear and cogent reasons for doing so. In addition, the Court has found that no regard shall be had to this intention in the development of emerging policy.
‘Without these highly significant and welcome findings, many decision makers may have been led into error in attaching undue weight to the Government’s intention to revoke.’
