Judge quashes planning permission 6 years after originally granted.

On 19 March 2021, the judge presiding over the case of R on the Application of Croyde Area Residents Association v North Devon District Council [2021] EWHC 646 (Admin) quashed a planning permission originally granted in 2014 (“the Permission”).

Facts

The Permission was intended to simply extend the opening times of a caravan park. However (and unbeknownst to the local planning authority), the Permission attached a site location plan that wrongly included roughly 22 hectares of land that, prior to 2014, had no permission for the stationing of caravans.

The Permission was “contrary to a number of development plan policies” and, with all parties appearing to agree that the Permission was unlawful, the main issue for the Court was whether the Permission ought to be quashed some 6 years after it was originally granted.

Judgment

The Judge held that, notwithstanding the extended period of time since it was first granted, the Permission ought to be quashed. Primarily, this was because:

• the case was “exceptional and indeed unique”;
• the parties agreed the Permission was unlawful and made in error; and
• “the credibility of the planning system” needed to be protected.

Comment

Although this case makes clear that the Court is in principle prepared to quash old planning permissions, the extraordinary nature of this case make it doubtful that such a decision will have any bearing on future challenges to past planning permissions.

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