Friends of the West Oxfordshire Cotswolds, R (on the application of) v West Oxfordshire District Council
[2023] EWHC 901 (Admin)
Barbara Laing, R (on the application of) v The Cornwall Council
26 January 2024
[2024] EWHC 120 (Admin)
High Court
A developer got permission to build houses but had to replace some hedgerow. They didn't replace enough, and the council let them get away with it. A neighbor sued, and the judge said the council was wrong to approve the insufficient hedgerow replacement. The council has to reconsider the decision.
Key Facts
- •Outline planning permission granted for nine dwellings, subject to condition 6 requiring approval of a landscape and ecological management plan.
- •Developer submitted a plan showing less hedgerow replacement than required by the initial ecological appraisal.
- •Claimant challenged the authority's approval of the plan, arguing misinterpretation of condition 6, failure to consider material considerations, and inadequate reasons.
- •The initial ecological appraisal recommended double the length of hedgerow replacement (10m for 5m loss) and direct connection to existing hedgerow.
- •The submitted plan showed 25m of new hedgerow for 23m of loss and lacked direct connection to existing hedgerow.
Legal Principles
Weight given to a consideration is a matter of planning judgment unless irrational.
Tesco Stores v Secretary of State for the Environment [1995] 1 WLR 759
Local authorities are assumed to have knowledge of statutory tests; adverse inferences not readily drawn.
South Buckinghamshire v Porter (No. 2) [2004] 1 WLR 1953
Officer's reports read with reasonable benevolence; interference only if significantly misleading.
Mansell v Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council [2017] EWCA Civ 1314 [42], R (Whitley Parish Council) v North Yorkshire County Council [2023] EWCA Civ 92 at [37]
No special rules for interpreting planning conditions; objective test based on reasonable reader understanding.
DB Symmetry Ltd v Swindon Borough Council [2022] UKSC 33 at [66]
Conditions should not impose unreasonable requirements.
R(on the application of Cathie) v Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council [2022] EWHC 2148
Outcomes
The authority's decision to discharge condition 6 was quashed.
The authority misinterpreted condition 6 by applying a 'satisfactory' rather than a strict compliance test and failed to consider the non-compliance with the ecological appraisal's recommendations regarding hedgerow length and connectivity.
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