Year of planning appeals could cost Arun District Council £90,000

Appeals can happen when a planning application is turned down by the local authority and the developer or applicant disagrees with the decision.

A report before ADC’s planning committee on Wednesday (2 February) showed that 41 appeals were determined in 2021.

Although 27 of the appeals were dismissed, the council’s business plan relies on 70 per cent being dismissed.

Head of planning Neil Crowther says appeals during 2021 resulted in more than £31,300 of costs being awarded against the council in addition to consultant fees of £26,682.

However, the final figure is thought to be closer to £90,000 as some costs have not yet been confirmed and some claims have not yet been lodged.

Mr Crowther said that some of the costs dated back to 2020 and one reason for the higher estimate was because appeals take up ‘significant officer time’.

Hugh Coster (Ind, Aldwick East) said: “To some extent, what it does show is the councillors are doing their best to represent the public. 

“They’re in somewhat of an invidious position because there’s government directives on one side, and the public on the other.

“We’re doing our best to tread the thin line between those two restrictions.”

Mr Crowther said that planning is a ‘very, very difficult forum to be in’ adding that ‘the right decision is not always the popular decision’.

Of the appeals, 76 per cent were found to be in line with recommendations from the council’s planning officers which they said: “Represents a significant improvement in the quality of decision making.”

When planning committee members decided against officer recommendations, this resulted in four appeals – three of which saw costs  awarded against the council.

According to a report, there has been a ‘significant increase’ in decisions that go against officer advice which has ‘resulted in substantial additional costs to the council’.

“One very clear conclusion from these decisions is that, if the committee are seeking to refuse an application, evidence to support this decision must be able to be produced at an appeal,” said Mr Crowther.

“Failure to be able to do this has resulted in costs awards against the council and significant expense.”

Local planning authorities are measured on their performance by calculating the proportion of decisions that are overturned at appeal.

If this reaches ten per cent, the council could be labelled as an ‘under-performing authority’ with applications taken out of its hands and decided by the planning inspectorate instead.

Arun DC scores 4.1 per cent which is higher than the national average of 1.6 per cent.

This means ADC is ranked 317th out of the 352 local authorities in England.

Nearby West Sussex local authority scores included: Worthing at 0 per cent, Chichester at 1.1 per cent, and Crawley at 6.7 per cent.

Officers said: “Whilst the performance of the council over this period does not put it at risk of ‘special measures’ it has to be acknowledged that it is very poor when compared to the national average and the performance of our adjoining authorities.”

However, they added that 2021 was the best year for appeal performance in five years.