Brewery's challenge on Selby planning strategy dismissed by court

A legal challenge to Selby District Council policies on the future development of our area has been dismissed at the Court of Appeal.

Tadcaster's Samuel Smiths Old Brewery had applied to take the council to court as part of a bid to quash the authority's Core Strategy Local Plan, a document it calls PLAN Selby.

The plan sets out the council’s long-term ambitions for how the district and its settlements should grow between now and 2027. Planning officers will use the document as a guideline when deciding whether new development is suitable for the area or if a project should be knocked back.

As part of the development of the plan, the document was reviewed by a government-appointed independent planning inspector.  In 2013 the inspector found the document to be 'sound' and compliant with the law.  

The brewery did not agree however, subsequently challenging the adoption of the document last year at the High Court in Leeds. At that time, the brewery’s challenge was dismissed on all ten of grounds it had put forward against adoption.

They later appealed the ruling on just one ground – whether there was a duty to co-operate with neighbouring planning authorities under the Localism Act 2011. They argued that the Council should have asked Leeds and York to provide additional houses in their areas instead of providing them in Tadcaster.

The court agreed with the council’s argument that the legal duty did not apply because the strategy was submitted for the independent examination before the legislation took effect.  It noted, however, that the council had consulted neighbouring authorities and had agreed that growth at Tadcaster was needed to provide jobs and homes for local people to regenerate the town.

The judgement means the council can move forward with the next stage of policy, which involves looking at allocating specific sites for growth of jobs, homes and services, alongside detailed planning policies.