I thought you would all be interested in a recent High Court judgement which found in favour of Thurston Parish Council, whose Neighbourhood Plan was adopted in 2019 (see below).
You should recently have received both a Household Questionnaire and a Housing Needs Survey. These are your first opportunities to influence the Neighbourhood Plan, and ask you to give your views about housing and other development in the village for the years ahead. Please take this opportunity to complete and return both the Questionnaire and Survey, either online (follow the links on the highlighted words), or by filling them in and returning them as soon as possible.
Once approved, our plan will have legal force in setting out what development is acceptable and for what reasons. Developers and local authority planners will have to take notice of it. Without a Neighbourhood Plan, we will have little control over any development and associated change that takes place. Already, more than ten sites have been put forward for consideration and West Suffolk planners will let us know what their preferred options are in March 2022. Thus, it is important that everybody has a chance between now and then to have their say, so that we can put a coherent case forward on behalf of the Parish.
If a pack hasn’t been delivered to your house, don’t worry, please just contact me and I’ll liaise with the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group to get a pack out to you, the surveys are open until 28th February.
Judge finds in favour of Thurston Parish Council vs Mid Suffolk District Council
Following a two-day hearing at the High Court in October a Court has now issued a decision in favour of Thurston Parish Council in their case against Mid Suffolk District Council’s planning consent for land south of Beyton Road in Thurston.
A planning application was made by Bloor Homes in 2019 for the construction of 210 houses and associated infrastructure in the small village on Thurston. Prior to this, Thurston Parish Council had recently adopted a Neighbourhood Plan and the particular site had not been included within the development limits that had been set by the Neighbourhood Plan (which took account of five existing planning permissions for circa 927 additional houses). Mid Suffolk District Council sought to justify the granting of planning permission on the basis of an initial draft of its Local Plan that was subject to numerous objections and was at least two versions away from being submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration as to its soundness.
The Parish Council alleged that the Mid Suffolk Planning Committee was misled by the advice it had been given concerning the weight that should be given to the Neighbourhood Plan and whether or not the proposal by Bloor Homes was contrary to it. Further, Mid Suffolk District Council sought to rely on what is called the “tilted balance” to justify the grant of permission. Thurston challenged reliance on the tilted balance on the basis that because of the misdirection the committee took account of incorrect planning considerations.
The judge found in favour of Thurston Parish Council on both points and has ordered that the planning permission be quashed and sent back to Mid Suffolk District Council to be re-determined.
Bob McGeady led the team at Ashtons Legal acting for Thurston Parish Council and instructed Meyric Lewis of FTB Chambers.
Bob said following the judgment: “This is an important case as it reminds local authorities that where there is an up-to-date Neighbourhood Plan they cannot lightly ignore it and they must take decisions in accordance with its provisions”.
“It was obvious to us from the outset that the Council had misdirected itself and by was undermining the local plan process. By granting planning permission the Council was depriving interested parties and individuals of the ability to have their concerns properly considered by the Local Plan Inspector. The judge wholeheartedly agreed that the Council had misdirected itself. Given the criticism that was made by the Planning Inspector of the draft Local Plan and in particular the overall strategy it is disappointing that the Council has sought to appeal this straightforward decision rather than concentrate its resources to overcome the very real concerns set out by the Local Plan Inspector. The Council accepted the criticisms that its approach to settlement strategy and allocation of sites was fundamentally flawed. It is to be hoped that this site and others so affect ted will now be properly assessed in the future.”
Victoria Waples, Clerk to Thurston Parish Council added: “I would like to thank our legal team for all the hard work they put into this case on our behalf. The Thurston Neighbourhood Development Plan that was recently adopted in October 2019 sought to restrict development to keep it within the current village boundary to give the new developments time to be assimilated. The Parish Council has consistently objected to the District Council’s proposed strategy for the village as the local plan has been developed. We felt that the strategy should have been properly tested as part of the local plan examination. By granting planning permission for this site the District Council was seeking to undermine that process but hopefully now the Council will go back to the drawing board and properly evaluate sites in accordance with the recommendations form the Local Plan Inspector.
We have further argued that all applications which fail to adhere to the main policies in the Thurston Neighbourhood Development Plan should not be supported. The Parish Council continues to request that the desires of the community, which were clearly expressed through engagement in the production of the Neighbourhood Plan, are respected and that any coming forward demonstrate that they are in conformity with the Thurston NDP”.