The appeal is against the refusal by the Council, at its Planning Committee on 11th December 2019, to grant planning permission for a mixed used development including the erection for up to 625 homes (including affordable housing), up to 2.9 hectares of B1 employment land, a canal corridor, public open space (including a linear park), access, drainage and ground modelling works and other associated works. Planning reference 171532

The appeal is not concerned with the fact that the Planning Committee resolved to refuse the grant of planning permission contrary to officers recommendation. However, pursuing the defence of the reasons for refusal by the Council could be seen as unreasonable given there is no technical evidence to support the grounds for refusal. It should also be noted that the Council is having difficulty securing technical experts who would provide their evidence in support of the Council’s decision to refuse the planning application.

Regrettably, the legal advice of the Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer is to withdraw the ‘reasons for refusal’ given by the Planning Committee on 11th December 2019 to both mitigate the reputational damage to the Council and to limit the significant costs that the Council could incur.

It is likely that the Inquiry will still take place however the Council will withdraw its reasons for refusal. The benefit of agreeing to withdraw the reasons for refusal now is that the Appellant’s costs incurred in the appeal should be significantly reduced, the inquiry should be shorter, some expert witnesses may not be required to attend and the Council’s costs incurred in instructing technical experts will be reduced