A leading development company has accused Eric Pickles of abusing his powers in the High Court.
According to Planning Magazine, Peter Village QC acting for housebuilder CALA accused the communities secretary of unlawfully ditching the plans and striking “at the heart of parliamentary democracy“.
Last month CALA homes launched the challenge against the Government’s decision to scrap regional plans. The scrapping of the plans has been unpopular with groups as diverse as the RSPB, Council for the Protection of Rural England and the Home Builders Federation who believe regional planning is essential to delivering national objectives relating to both conservation and development.
The challenge however does not relate to the principle of scrapping the plans, or localism – rather the procedure (or lack of) Pickles has followed to implement his actions. Pickles argued that by making the move ahead of the Decentralisation and Localism Bill, he was acting to avoid uncertainty and inconsistent decision making by local councils.
David Kerfoot – a partner in the planning, environmental and renewable energy team at North West law firm Aaron & Partners LLP claims unanswered questions must be addressed in the proposed Decentralisation and Localism Bill, due to be published by the end of the year.
“Renewable energy projects can cause significant and often disproportionate local concern”, said Mr Kerfoot.
“It remains to be seen how the need to meet targets will be reconciled with the fact that many local communities don’t want a windfarm or biomass plant in their back yard.”
Mr Kerfoot believes the localism bill could lead to the most significant change to the planning system since the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947. He urged the coalition to “think carefully” about the short and long term effects of the proposed changes, adding:
“Creating a new and uncertain system that had the effect, however unintentionally, of slowing down the planning process even further would be disastrous – particularly in the current economic climate. All we keep hearing is that local needs will be addressed, but how do we ensure that this concept of ‘localism’ is not manipulated by the organised, vocal minority?”
His comments come at a time of intense speculation regarding the contents of the bill. Recent reports in the national media have claimed that a third-party right of appeal against successful planning applications will be left out.
