Pett Level new build home returns for decision

Proposals for a new build in Pett Level are set to return to Rother planners next week, after a previous decision was quashed as a result of a legal challenge.
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On Thursday (April 14), Rother District Council’s planning committee is set to reconsider an application to build a two-storey home on land next to a property known as Curlew Cottage in Pett Level Road.

The scheme, which is recommended for refusal, had last been before the committee in November last year, where it was approved against officer advice after councillors raised concerns about a potential ‘injustice’ taking place. 

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However, this decision has since been quashed, following a legal challenge which argued the council had engaged in ‘procedural impropriety’.

Proposed location of new homeProposed location of new home
Proposed location of new home

The circumstances behind the original decision were complex. The application had been recommended for refusal on the grounds it was outside of any development boundary.

However, the committee also heard that this had only become the case with the council’s adoption of its Development and Site Allocations Local Plan (DaSA) in December 2019. Before this, the site had been within the development boundary of Pett Level.

According to the applicants they had first sought pre-application advice from the council in 2016 and, after learning of the then-upcoming change in policy, had been advised by officers that the change would not prejudice their case. 

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The applicants said they would have submitted their full application sooner in order to avoid the change had they not been given this advice. 

The council, for its part, had no record which could prove or disprove this claim, but several committee members felt refusing the scheme in those circumstances would create an ‘injustice’, even if doing so would be against council planning policy. 

As a result, the scheme was approved on a majority verdict, despite concerns from some committee members.

Since then, however, a third-party launched a legal challenge, arguing that the council’s decision-making had been faulty. 

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This challenge argued the committee should not have given any weight to whether or not the council had given advice to the applicant as it was not a ‘material consideration’.  

The challenge also argued that the council had engaged in ‘procedural impropriety’ by failing to give sufficient reasons for approving the scheme.

After taking legal advice, the council conceded and agreed for the decision to be quashed by the High Court. As a result, the application is coming back to the committee for fresh consideration. 

As with the previous meeting, officers are recommending the scheme be refused as it is not within a development boundary and would not be a ‘sustainable location’. 

For further details of the proposals see application reference RR/2020/1826/P on the Rother District Council website.

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