All posts tagged appeal

120220CrowAppeal

Appeal won with costs

By on February 20, 2012 in Appeals, Prism News

Following on from our work with Kirklevington Riding Centre, Prism Planning have secured permission at appeal for a new house at Crows Meadow Farm, off Dalton Back Lane, Dalton Piercy, near Hartlepool.

The Planning Inspectorate granted the appeal and awarded full costs against the Council for what was agreed to have been an unnecessary appeal which has delayed the construction of a house on the site for no clear reason.

Our Clients had been operating a successful riding centre from the site for over three years. The business offers full and ‘part-time’ DIY livery services for horse owners in the local area. During this time, the family have lived on site in a mobile home, which was granted a temporary permission in 2007. Having demonstrated the viability of the business over the intervening period, Prism Planning submitted a planning application for a permanent house on the site in May 2011.

The business could successfully show a need for someone to live on site and be available to look after the horses; the proposed house complied with all relevant local and national planning policy. Despite this, the application was still undecided 5 months later with no positive end in sight.

The Councils officers ignored several pieces of key national policy during the consideration of the application and considered trying to impose legal agreements on the proposals which were wholly improper. Due to the delay, and position the Council adopted, an appeal against the Council’s failure to determine the application was submitted by Prism Planning and a hearing was later held at the Council offices in January 2012. In allowing the appeal, the Inspector found the Council to be “unreasonable” in their behaviour and “unreasonable” for not determining the application within the usual timescale.

Whilst we always try to have a productive relationship with the Councils we work with, there are times when the only way forward is to appeal. When we appeal we aim to win and this is a result that we are very proud of and adds to our impressive success rate. This is the second equestrian dwelling we have won at appeal in the last few months and shows that our in depth knowledge reaps benefit for the client. It is of course disappointing that taxpayers money was needlessly spent opposing such a sound case where there was no practical reason for the delay.

Our case studies pages will be updated soon…

120126PlanningSpeed

Getting your applications through the system quick

By on January 26, 2012 in Development Control

If you are looking to make a ‘minor’ application, for a small scale development it really does pay to make sure that the application is as complete and throrough as possible before submitting it.

Many Planning Authorities in the North East of England are imposing strict time limits to allow them to meet their Government imposed targets, particularly for applications with an 8-week determination target that are delegated to the Planning Officer for decision – these are applications where a decision can be reached without going before the Council’s Planning Committee.

These time limits can mean that applications need to be withdrawn, or worse are refused by the Council, where information is incomplete or when issues arise requiring further attention and resolution would take the application beyond the 8-week target.

This can seem unfair given the huge amount of work which needs to be undertaken and often doesn’t even guarantee a successful outcome.  Indeed, withdrawing an application to avoid refusal (refusal is nearly always better avoided if possible), preparing the additional information and then re-submitting can mean that an application that should take 8 weeks to approve can take 18-20 weeks!

It really does pay to get advice before you start and to make sure that you are providing the planning authority will all of the information that they might reasonably require to properly consider your application.  We offer free consultations and will always let you know what we think of your chances, good or bad.

111222Wynyardlogo

Prism November news bites.

By on November 27, 2011 in Prism News

Appeal won for Ingleby Barwick retirement home.

We have won an appeal for a supported living retirement home at Ingleby Barwick, Stockton-on-tees and we couldn’t be happier to get this decision turned around. The development will include 1 and 2 bedroomed apartments for residents, as well as shared facilities and lounges.

A managed green space will be open for use by the residents on previously private land, giving quality of life and providing attractive, landscaped gardens. Local shops, services and amenities are all within walking distance giving this development a high level of sustainability.

Some key legal principles have emerged from this decision relating to situations when Councils ask for S106 contributions. It may be harder for Councils to ask for money in the future unless they point to just what it will be spent upon.

Wynyard development gets outline planning permission.

We have helped Wynyard Park to get one step closer to their vision of a sustainable, mixed use development by winning outline planning permission for 200 executive homes to the West of the existing Business Park.

Hartlepool Borough Council granted outline permission for the planned homes and accepted a contribution of almost £2 million towards affordable housing for the borough. The money will be used to meet a need for affordable housing in the Hartlepool area.

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Landmark Appeal Ruling in Stockton

By on November 22, 2011 in Development Control

Prism Planning have just won a significant planning appeal relating to a site in Ingleby Barwick known as Blair Avenue which should change the way that a lot of planning is carried out in the Stockton area.

The site was a piece of land effectively left over from the historic development of the village of Ingleby Barwick and lay close to the village centre. The developer wanted to build a housing scheme for the over 55’s. The council were concerned that the site was an important area of open space and needed to be kept open. The Inspector disagreed with the Council position, noting that their evidence base was sketchy and out of date. None of the policies referred to by the Council should have been used in the way the Council sought.

However the real significance of the case is that the Inspector went on to apply the Community Infrastructure Regulations (CIL) to the Councils position and to note that their planning guidance on open space was fundamentally flawed. In particular the Council couldn’t reasonably demand money from a developer without analysing the problems of the area and being very specific about how the money would be used to improve the area.
The Inspector also went on to note that the Councils approach towards delivering off site affordable housing was similarly flawed, being overly complex and uncertain and preferred the simple and clear approach cited by Prism. Moreover the approach put forward by Prism was consistent with the way in which the government were funding and delivering affordable housing in the future.

These two key legal points should result in a very different approach being taken by the Council in the future which will more directly and transparently benefit local communities. In the future, the Council will need to accurately diagnose local opens space issues and propose specific solutions, instead of money being stored away for use on other sites as officers see fit. Communities will be able to expect a better understanding of their specific problems and also to expect improvements to doorstep provision.

The Inspector went on to agree with all the key points argued by Prism and found for the appellant, granting permission for a sheltered housing scheme on the site.

Localism in Practice

By on June 20, 2011 in Development Control, Localism

Prism Planning has been very busy recently testing out the principles of the Localism Agenda. It is quite clear that once the Localism Bill becomes statute the general public will potentially have a strong mandate to shape their communities through the planning system.

Private developers have been quite cautious of these proposals. It has been argued that some conservative (note the little ‘c’) thinkers will simply become Nimby’s to the extreme – we at Prism have a much more positive outlook on the Bill, and recent jobs have only strengthened our views; let’s look at two which illustrate our point:

We have been involved in a residential scheme in the Haxby Road area of York. The project for affordable housing on the site of a former Co-operative Dairy created quite a stir locally. The Planning Officers recommended the scheme for approval, but during the Committee politics took its course and permission was refused.

During the Appeal it was quite clear that there were no hard and fast planning issues which meant that the scheme should be refused. The Inspector agreed with us and permission was subsequently granted with a partial award of costs.

The second case was closer to home, in Darlington where we are based, and was to a certain extent, a mirror image of that of Haxby Road. It involved the refurbishment of an existing Georgian house, through the development of two subservient homes within its large residential curtilage.

The Council in this case were against the proposals for reasons of conservation and planning policy. However following extensive consultation with local people it became increasingly obvious that the public were in support of the scheme and wanted the application to be approved. Once the day of Planning Committee came around, an army of supporters (and one or two objectors) made their presence known and the officers’ recommendation was overturned by the committee.

The point which I am trying to make is a simple one, the Localism Bill is not a “Nimby’s Charter”. The Bill will not give the public the ability to impose a negative planning agenda. Recent Ministerial Statements have argued that planning needs to be for growth and sustainability and just at these two cases show; if the public want to make a real positive impact through the planning system, they can!

Goings on at Prism

By on April 5, 2011 in Prism News

We have some fantastic news – we have won an appeal with costs awarded for a Joint Service Centre in Whitley Bay!

We worked on behalf of North Tyneside Local Improvement Finance Trust to get the decision, described in the appeal as ‘unreasonable’, overturned. The Council had originally claimed that parking and aesthetics were an issue, but both reasons were discarded in the appeal decision and we are delighted to see this development go ahead.

The service centre will bring much needed public amenities to the disused site next to the Fire Station including; library, tourist information point, public meeting rooms and medical consultation rooms in a contemporary building organised around a central atrium.

Another noteworthy event is the start of the Prism Twitter and Newsletter. Keep an eye out on the website for our newsletter sign up box coming soon and follow us for news and information relating to planning and development, not to mention some tips for those DIY developers among you!