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Babergh District Council has agreed that an outline planning permission it granted to Catesby Development Land Limited on 11 December 2020 for the erection of up to 64 dwellings and provision of land for a community building on land to the east of Sand Hill, Boxford, should be quashed.
This was an Aarhus claim brought by Boxford Parish Council on a number of legal bases. These included: first, that the grant of planning permission was outwith the express requirements of the resolution of the committee in two respects – it failed to secure a community building and failed to secure super/ultra-fast broadband. Second, that the District Council had unlawfully taken into account the payment of funds for an unspecified community purpose. Third, that the District Council erred in its consideration of highways matters. Fourth, there had been a breach of the Coronavirus Regulations (SI 2020/392).
The District Council agreed to an order quashing the planning permission on a key failing in the first basis, having accepted that the s.106 agreement failed to secure a community building, as required by the resolution of the committee, and recording that the other grounds were maintained by the Parish, but not agreed by the District Council. The co-operative attitude of the Parish Council and the concession by the District Council enabled the parties to reach agreement in the form of the agreed Consent Order, for their mutual benefit. The District Council agreed the application would be returned to the Committee for reconsideration.
Sasha Blackmore and Joel Semakula acted for the claimant, instructed by David Bowman of Teacher Stern.
