Planning battle ends as Cala loses regional target appeal
Cala Homes has lost its legal battle to force councils to stick to regional housing goals before they are abolished by the Localism Bill.
The Court of Appeal ruled last week that councils could take into consideration the government’s decision to ditch the regional spatial strategies, which contain the house building targets, before the bill becomes law at the end of the year. The developer brought the appeal case after the government told councils to take its decision to abolish the targets into account - even thought the High Court ruled last November that the decision was illegal.
A spokesperson for Cala said it was disappointed with the ruling but that it welcomed ‘the clarification this brings to the planning system until new arrangements are formally put in place’. The outcome was critical to a 2,000-home development by Cala, in Winchester, which had lost council approval.
Planning minister Bob Neill said: ‘Increasing the rate of house building is a top priority for the government and is backed by incentives to kick-start building. You don’t need bureaucratic regional strategies to build more homes and support growth.’