When (if at all) are local planning authorities required to consider whether an application for planning permission is inconsistent with an earlier grant of permission?
Cornerstone Climate, Planning and Environment
When (if at all) are local planning authorities required to consider whether an application for planning permission is inconsistent with an earlier grant of permission?
That is the central question in Fiske v Test Valley Borough Council which is being heard by the Court of Appeal today.
Planning Permission was originally granted in 2017 for a solar farm. In 2021, a separate planning permission was granted on the same site for a substation. The intention was that the two permissions would operate together. However the permissions were inconsistent – because the substation granted under the 2021 permission was located within an area of solar arrays under the 2017 permissions.
The High Court, dismissing a judicial review, challenge held that the inconsistency was not a mandatory material consideration, having regard to the settled law that multiple permissions may be granted for the same parcel of land; that a grant permits development but does not require it to be carried out; and the various options open to the developer to avoid any breach of planning control.
Robin Green and Robert Williams appear for Test Valley Borough Council.
