In these monthly updates, Rebecca Mushing brings together essential news, trends, and insights from the world of planning and development.
April's update sees a case in which Wright Hassall acted for the Claimant at the High Court following the Council unhelpfully included a note on the permission in relation to the NSIP regime.
April 2025 planning and development roundup:
Latest Planning News & Announcements
- The OBR has predicted that 170,000 extra homes will be delivered by 2029-30 as a direct result of the government’s policy changes in the NPPF. This doesn’t incorporate the effect of the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill. You would expect this positive announcement by the OBR will give the government confidence to push harder and faster with planning reform.
- Property data firm LandTech has identified that almost 20% of England’s green belt is likely to be designated as grey belt with an estimated capacity of nearly 11 million homes. That should help the government on their way to their ambitious target.
- The government has announced that statutory requirements to consult on NSIP projects are to be substantially reduced. This is to allow infrastructure projects a speedier pass through the process and provide applicants more flexibility to amend their schemes without having to restart the process.
- Having passed its second reading in the House of Commons, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill has moved to the committee stage which began on 24 April 2025. This is a detailed examination of the bill. It continues at pace. It continues its journey onto the statute books at pace.
Latest cases
Drayton Manor Farms Ltd v Stratford-upon- Avon District Council [2025] EWHC 775 (Admin)
Here Wright Hassall acted for the claimant. The Council added a note on the permission which raised questions as to whether the 32MW solar project would be an extension to the neighbouring 45MW project. If so, it would fall within the NSIP regime being over the 50MW limit. This created uncertainty as to whether carrying out the development would have criminal sanctions due to it needing a development consent. We sought a declaration from the Court to confirm the project was not an NSIP. The judge concluded it was not an extension of the pre-existing project because there were very little interdependence between them.
Greenfields (IOW) Limited v Isle of Wight Council [2025] EWCA Civ 488
The Court of Appeal has ruled that permission for 473 homes was unlawful due to the LPA not publishing the planning agreement on its website before granting approval. Therefore, not satisfying the requirements of article 40(3) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 and preventing members of the public commenting. As a result, the permission was quashed. That is not to say such a failure would render a permission unlawful in all circumstances. The judge noted in this case that although brief detail of a highway contribution to be secured by a 106 agreement was in the public domain by way of the officer report, the quantum was not until after grant. Further, in this case, it was clear that the appellant would have wanted to pass comment on the agreement, and they were deprived of the opportunity to do so.
Morris Homes (North) Ltd, R (on the Application of) v Westchurch Homes Limited & Ors [2025] EWHC 657 (Admin).
The High Court has considered when a planning application was formally made. In short it concluded that this was at the earliest moment when the application is received by its intended recipient regardless of whether that application is then valid. A rival housebuilder in this case was seeking to argue that an application was not made until it was validated. This latter argument would have meant that the statutory BNG requirements would have been required to be imposed on the permission. However given the judge’s ruling, the application was in fact made before the 12 February 2024 deadline and therefore was not subject to the BNG requirements.
If you have any question's about this month's roundup, our Planning team will be delighted to help - please don't hesitate to get in touch.
