Gleeson was notified by PINS in March that its application to build 180 homes on a greenfield site had been granted approval on appeal following Wiltshire Council's refusal of the plans in March last year.
However, only days later, PINS sent a letter to the developer saying that the decision had been withdrawn and that the Secretary of State had decided to call in the application. It said that the first letter had been issued due to an administrative error.
Gleeson has said it has now issued proceedings seeking to judicially review both the withdrawal of the planning permission and the direction that the SoS would determine the appeal himself.
Gleeson said that there was no precedent for PINS to withdraw a planning permission this way and that it had received "clear legal advice" that the planning permission is still valid.
"It remains in force and it can be implemented, subject of course to compliance with the planning conditions. The secretary of state has no power to recover jurisdiction of the appeal from an inspector after the inspector’s decision has been issued," Gleeson said in a statement.
"We have put these points both to the secretary of state and to the Treasury Solicitor who acts for him, but to date we have received no satisfactory explanation from either of them as to what legal powers are claimed which would allow the planning permission to be withdrawn," it said.
