A High Court judge has ruled that Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby for up to 3,000 homes in the district does not have to be made again.
The developer, Flaxby Park Ltd, argued at a Judicial Review last month that the council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton for 3,000 homes was based on a flawed process.
Representing Flaxby, Christopher Katkowski QC raised three objections about the way the council came to make their decision.
He said:
- Environmental and sustainability assessments were not brought back before councillors to help them make a decision.
- The council failed to include an additional 630 hectares of land in the assessment of Flaxby as a broad location.
- The Green Hammerton proposals were not financially viable.
In a judgement published today, Mr Justice Holgate ruled in favour of HBC on the second and third points. However, he said that an environmental and sustainability report regarding the proposals would have to go back before the full council.
He said because this report wasn’t produced at the time, it “rendered unlawful” the new settlement policies at the adoption stage of the Local Plan. It means the council will have to vote again to rectify the “legal error” to address the issue of the sustainability report.
The judgement could potentially put to bed what has been one of the most bitter planning disputes to hit Harrogate in decades.
In his conclusion, Mr Justice Holgate said:
“In my judgment there was no error in the local plan process up to and including the conclusion of the examination process.”
Harrogate Borough Council welcomed the judgement and said an updated sustainability report will be brought to full council “as soon as possible”.
A council spokesman said:
“The judge is clear there were no flaws in the development of the local plan, the process was fair and equal, and that sufficient evidence had been put forward in relation to the new settlement.
“He has ruled that the plan does not need to be quashed in part, or full, saying that would be ‘wholly unjustifiable’.
“The court’s view is there was a single procedural issue because specific attention was not drawn to an updated sustainability appraisal when adoption of the local plan was discussed by councillors, even though the document was in the public domain at the time.
“The judge stated that although Flaxby Park Limited has been successful, in-part, to Ground 1 they had mounted a ‘time-consuming and costly attack on the local plan process’ and had ‘failed in achieving what was plainly the main object or thrust of the challenge.”
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Flaxby Park Ltd released a statement to the Stray Ferret this afternoon also claiming victory.
Chris Musgrave, chief executive at Flaxby Park Ltd, said:
“Flaxby Park Limited (FPL) are delighted that we have been successful in winning our Judicial Review challenge.
“HBC did not take into account vital information such as the sustainability appraisal and the detail of the consultation process. As a result, the councillors did not have all of the relevant information which would allow them to form a sound judgement on the merits of the community settlement issue.
“Council officers have a duty to provide council members with the fullest information and this has not been the case. As a result, the decision making of elected officials in the context of Flaxby Park has been flawed.
“The judgement by Mr Justice Holgate has confirmed that HBC acted unlawfully by adopting the Local Plan and we note that an order has been made by the Judge for HBC to pay their own legal costs as well as a proportion of the costs incurred by FPL. This speaks volumes as to the validity of our successful legal challenge.”
