In DLA Delivery v Lewes District Council, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision that the making of a neighbourhood plan (NP) did not have to await the adoption of other documents on future local development.
DLA Delivery challenged the council’s decision to allow the NP, which had been prepared by Newick Parish Council, to proceed under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA) before its statutory adoption under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (PCPA). The claim was dismissed in the High Court in July 2015.
Justice Lindblom quoted passages of Gladman Developments v Aylesbury Vale District Council, which he said were applicable in this case. In summary: under para 8(2)(e) of the TCPA, the NP did not have to await the adoption of any other development plan; the NP could address housing needs unless or until there was an adopted development plan setting a housing requirement for the same period; and, if the planning authority later produced a development plan containing new ‘strategic policies’, it would, under the PCPA, prevail over any inconsistent policies in the NP.
The judgment emphasises that the purpose of para 8(2)(e) in the TCPA is to ensure an appropriate degree of consistency between an NP and the strategy of an adopted development plan. An NP may include policies allocating land for particular purposes even when there are no ‘strategic policies’ in the adopted development plan. This may be either because there are no relevant strategic policies or the strategy itself is redundant due to it running out of time.
