Judicial Review of NPPF’s lawfulness fails

The High Court (Dove J) today rejected a legal challenge by Friends of the Earth to the lawfulness of the 2018 NPPF. It was argued that the failure to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) vitiated the decision to publish the revised Framework in July 2018. Rejecting the challenge, Dove J found that although the NPPF could be said to set the framework for development consent decisions, it was not required by any legislative, regulatory or administrative provision, and therefore SEA was not required. The judgment can be viewed here. Rupert Warren QC and Heather Sargent acted for the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government.