Cases - R (on the application of Chelmsford Car & Commercial Ltd) v Chelmsford Borough Council
Record details
- Name
- R (on the application of Chelmsford Car & Commercial Ltd) v Chelmsford Borough Council
- Date
- [2005]
- Citation
- EWHC 1705
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Planning control
- Summary
-
Local plan policy only permitted development outside the boundary of a village where a local need for affordable housing could be shown. Two applications were made for 12 affordable dwellings; only 1 of the 2 developments was required. The planning authority granted permission to the interested party, and refused the claimant's request to carry out a comparative assessment on the ground that the claimant's application was problematic in terms of affordability and deliverability.
Mr Justice Sullivan held that the authority had failed to take account of a material consideration and quashed the permission. The two competing sites were considered at the same meeting and each had to make out a case justifying an exception to the plan policy. Whatever might be said about the relevance of alternative sites in general, common sense suggested that a comparison of the 2 sites would be a material consideration.