Ministers have been urged to legislate for a limited third party right of appeal. The call has come from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF).
The two organisations have pointed out that while developers can appeal against negative planning decisions, the only way for local people to oppose development that has already been granted planning permission is in the High Court, a move which is expensive and time-consuming. Paul Miner, CPRE senior planning campaigner, said: “Going all the way to the High Court for local issues is just ridiculous. It’s often risky, expensive and should strictly be a last resort. A limited public right of planning appeal doesn’t stop all new development as some claim. But developers will have to meaningfully negotiate with local communities to ensure that development happens.”
Communities minister Bob Neill said: “The planning system should be based on local communities’ vision for their neighbourhood. Years of top-down instruction from Whitehall and unelected regional bureaucracies have alienated local people from planning decisions. We are determined to ensure that local communities will have real power to shape the future of their area right from the outset not simply at the tail end of the process – which is where the appeals system operates.”
The two organisations have also published a new guide, ‘Plan B: How to challenge bad developments in court,’ which provides case studies of successful legal challenges.
Paul Miner continued: “If a bad development has got planning permission, it’s not the end of the story. Mounting a challenge in court is expensive and very risky, but it can be done.”
Debbie Tripley, chief executive of ELF, said: “Britain is signed up to the Aarhus convention. Citizens have the right to be involved in environmental decision-making but without public right of appeal, this has had little to no impact on ordinary members of the public.”
Download ‘Plan B: How to challenge bad developments in court’ (CPRE 2010) HERE
