Bedford Park Developments v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities & Anor
[2024] EWHC 2337 (Admin)
Paul Evans v Bridgend County Borough Council
18 October 2024
[2024] EWHC 2607 (Admin)
High Court
A landowner applied twice for permission to build houses on his land, splitting the land into two parts. The council refused to consider the applications, saying they were too similar to an earlier rejected plan. A judge ruled that the council was wrong; the new plans were different enough to be considered separately.
Key Facts
- •Claimant made two outline planning permission applications for nine dwellings each on separate parcels (A and B) of a green space.
- •The council refused to determine both applications under Section 70A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, citing similarity to a previously refused application.
- •Judicial review claims were consolidated, and permission granted on the ground of irrationality in deeming the applications 'similar'.
- •The 2021 application (for 15 dwellings on the entire site) was refused and dismissed on appeal, citing overdevelopment, poor access, tree loss, and ecological concerns.
- •The 2023 applications differed in site area, access (pedestrian/cycle only), building height, and included additional surveys (bat/protected species).
Legal Principles
Section 70A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a local planning authority to decline to determine an application if a similar application has been refused and there's no significant change in material considerations.
Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Section 70A
Under Section 70A(2), applications are considered 'similar' only if the development and land are, in the authority's opinion, the same or substantially the same.
Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Section 70A(2)
The power under Section 70A should not be used to dismiss applications deemed hopeless; it's to prevent repeated applications designed to wear down opposition.
R (Harrison) v Richmond-upon-Thames LBC [2013] EWHC 1677 (Admin)
Section 70A does not require identical applications; similarity exists even if details differ.
R (on the application of Jeeves and Baker) v Gravesham BC [2006] EWHC 1249
Outcomes
The council's decisions to decline to determine the 2023 applications were quashed.
The council irrationally treated the two 2023 applications as one, thus creating a false similarity with the 2021 application. The applications were sufficiently different in scale, access, and other material aspects to warrant separate consideration. The council's actions were not a legitimate exercise of the power under Section 70A.
The council must determine the 2023 applications.
The court found the council's refusal to determine the applications to be irrational and a misuse of Section 70A.
Claim for damages was dismissed.
No legal basis for awarding damages was found.
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