High Court dismisses Truro District Centre judicial review challenge

The application by Cornwall Council, the Duchy of Cornwall and Waitrose for a scheme on a 19 hectare greenfield site to comprise, a food centre, 97 new homes, a waste and recycling facility and an energy centre was approved by Cornwall Council in October last year.

Truro City Council, which had objected to the proposals, subsequently applied for judicial review of the decision on six grounds, including that the Council had failed to comply with its duty to determine the application in accordance with the Development Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise and that the Council had not given adequate reason for granting planning permission for the scheme.

The judge rejected all six grounds. He said in his judgment that the Council had been "aware of the primacy of the Development Plan" and that the plan had not been "relegated to the category of other material considerations."

The conflict of the proposed development with the Development Plan had been recognised throughout the process "as evidenced in the reports to the committee and by referral to the National Planning Case Unit," the judge said. "It is apparent, therefore that when the Council departed from the Development Plan, the reasons for doing so, on a fair reading of the reports, are clear," he added.

"What is needed is a clear examination of the Development Plan and the policies relevant to the application in question. If it is not to be followed, because material considerations indicate otherwise, those material considerations need to be clearly set out together with the weight attached to them so that it is clear that they override the statutory Development Plan. That is what the report did here," the judge said.

The judge concluded that the Council had provided sufficient reasons for granting planning permission. "Where members have followed their officer recommendation and there is no indication that they have disagreed with the reasoning in the report leading to the recommendation, then a relatively brief summary of reasons may well be adequate," he said.

He added that the fact that a "significant minority" of planning committee members had voted against the proposals did not affect the approach to the giving of reasons.

Truro Council had also argued that the grant of planning permission had been premature because the size, scale and nature of the development meant that the local plan process would be put at risk.

However, the judge said that Cornwall Council had followed Government guidance when it had considered the existing and emergent Development Plan position and concluded that little weight could attach to either.

"Nothing could be identified in any emerging document which would or could be pre-empted by the development proposals. The alternative would have been to await an uncertain timetable and uncertain outcome of the Development Plan process", he added.

The judge also rejected claims that the Council had failed to have regard to material considerations since the planning committee had resolved to grant consent; that it had failed to properly consider a site which was superior under policies on the sequential test for retail developments and that it had applied its affordable housing policy incorrectly.