Armstrong Rigg Planning News

Court of Appeal Judgement - Meaning of Out of Date Policies

A Court of Appeal judgement has been handed down which considers the meaning of out of date policies for the purposes of paragraph 11(d) of the NPPF. The case concerned dismissed housing schemes due to their impact on the Worsley Greenway, protected by saved policies of the Council’s UDP. The case was brought on the basis that the UDP was time expired running to an end date of 2016 and therefore relevant policies used in dismissing the cases were out of date.

Notable sections of the Judgement which dismisses the case, include: Paragraph 68: – It is obvious that many policies will not expire with the plan but will survive beyond the plan period. Policies which address environmental protection clearly have a life beyond the expiry date of the plan; and Paragraph 71 – Whether a policy becomes out of date and if so what consequences arise from that are matters of pure planning judgement, not dependent on issues of legal interpretation.

Accordingly, policies are “out-of-date” for the purposes of para. 11d of the NPPF if they have been overtaken by things that have happened since the plan was adopted, either on the ground or through a change in national policy, or for some other reason.

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2020/1175.html