26 COMMENT THE BLIGHT OF REFUSAL
Solicitors Irwin Mitchell offer a comment on the Secretary of State’s recent refusal of six planning appeals, comprising a total of 725 new houses.
F
riday 21 April appears to have been a ‘deck-clearing’ day for the National Planning Casework Unit. In what was, no doubt, a last minute
effort to release decisions before the start of the purdah period for the general election, the Secretary of State issued seven recovered planning appeal decisions in a single day. All seven of the recovered appeals
related to residential development schemes, comprising a total of 805 potential new homes. The Secretary of State refused all but
one of the appeals – quashing the hope of 725 new dwellings and permitting the creation of only 80 new homes. Despite the current rhetorical and politi-
cal push to increase housebuilding (and in particular the Secretary of State’s recent attacks on NIMBYism and a lack of deliv- ery by housebuilders and local councils
alike), the Secretary of State’s purported reasons for these refusals are depressingly familiar – particularly in the run up to an election. Three appeals were refused on the basis
of a conflict with the local Neighbourhood Plan. In all three appeal decisions the local planning authority in question did not have a five year housing land supply (and in fact had a significant shortfall) and the Inspector had recommended that the appeal be approved. One appeal was refused, against the
Inspector’s recommendation, as the Secretary of State held it to be inappropri- ate development in the Green Belt. Another appeal was also refused on Green Belt grounds, but this time in line with the Inspector’s recommendations. In total 580 of the 725 homes refused permission had been recommended for approval by the Secretary of State’s planning inspectors.
The final refusal followed the
Inspector’s recommendation and was due to a finding that the “less than substantial harm” caused by the scheme to the setting of a listed building was not outweighed by the benefits brought by the proposed development. In short, as is often the case, the themes
of the refusals were: • localism/neighbourhood planning • protecting the Green Belt • conserving heritage assets. Carl Dyer, national head of planning at
Irwin Mitchell commented on the recent spate of refusals: “Unbelievable! They scream we must build more homes for seven years, and in the last tranche before the election the Secretary of State refuses over 90 per cent of the 805 homes before him, including 580 in four appeals where the Inspector had recommended that permission be granted.”
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