Thames Valley planning news, September 2018

The recent progress made towards achieving adopted local plan coverage across the Thames Valley has now stalled, with two local plan Inspectors seeking further information from parties before progressing their consideration of each emerging plan any further:

The Inspector examining the Cherwell Local Plan Part 1 Review has identified two issues that he is seeking feedback on. He has scheduled a pre-hearing meeting on 28 September to consider:

• Whether Cherwell’s apportionment of 4,400 homes from Oxford’s overall unmet need (of 15,000) is soundly based; and
• If so, can Oxford’s unmet housing be an ‘exceptional circumstance’ that justifies an alteration to Green Belt boundaries?

Meanwhile following the conclusion of the first stage of hearing sessions in June this year, the Inspector examining the Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Local Plan has published initial advice outlining concerns regarding the availability of documents and the legality and fairness of the Council’s consultation process. The advice and concerns have arisen primarily in relation to employment and flood risk evidence. 

The Inspector has stated:

‘I am yet to reach firm conclusions regarding the soundness and legal compliance of the aspects of the Plan considered at Stage 1 […] I will advise on Stage 2 of the examination once I have received the Council’s response to this letter.’

In Hallam Land Management Ltd. v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Eastleigh Borough Council, heard in the Court of Appeal, Lindblom LJ stated the central question as being:

‘In deciding an appeal against the refusal of planning permission for housing development, how far does the decision-maker have to go in calculating the extent of any shortfall in the five-year supply of housing land?’

The Secretary of State (SoS) for Communities and Local Government (CLG) had, in line with his Inspector in a decision letter dated 9 November 2016, dismissed a s78 appeal for various types of new homes in Hamble. The decision had been challenged unsuccessfully in the High Court by the appellant, where the judge had rejected all four of the appellant’s grounds of appeal.

With different housing land supply figures being put forward by the various appeal parties at different times, it was not clear from the SoS’ decision whether he had fixed on a precise figure for the housing land supply. Nor was it clear whether he had reached any concluded view on the scale of the ‘acknowledged shortfall’ – he referred to ‘the limited shortfall in housing land supply’, while the Inspector had written of a ‘material shortfall’. This approach did not err in law of itself, as the Communities Secretary was entitled to conclude that no more precision was required in the knowledge that the level of housing land supply fell within a range below five years. But other inspectors' conclusions on housing land supply in two very recent decisions - and their consequences for the weight to be given to local plan policies - ‘clearly were material considerations in this appeal’. Both decisions had characterised the shortfall as ‘significant’, more in line with ‘material’, than ‘limited’.

Lindblom LJ concluded:

‘[The] SoS did not come to grips with the inspectors' conclusions on housing land supply in those two very recent appeal decisions.’

The SoS will now re-determine the s78 appeal.

On 15 August, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire announced a new programme for assisting with progressing garden communities.

Parties having the support of local authorities for ‘new garden communities at scale’ can apply for a place on the Programme.

According to the accompanying Prospectus, proposals for new Garden Towns (with more than 10,000 homes) will be prioritised but MHCLG will also consider proposals for Garden Villages (having 1,500-10,000 homes) ‘which are particularly strong in other aspects’.

Winning bids can choose to receive/ benefit from: resource funding; delivery advice (e.g. on creating development corporations) and support; cross-government brokerage; and peer learning and networking opportunities.

The period for submitting proposals ends on 9 November.