News
December 2019
High Court quashes Sussex house approval over 'misleading' planning report
16 December 2019 by Court reporter
A High Court judge has quashed a Sussex council's planning consent for a house after concluding that a planning officer’s report on the application had been "seriously misleading".
London's Royal Courts of Justice
The court's ruling was a triumph for local campaigner, Felicity Irving, who is determined to preserve the 0.77-acre meadow for use by Cuckfield residents.
Known locally as the 'play meadow', she said it had for generations been used by village children and dog walkers and as an outdoor Sunday school for nearby Grade 1- listed Holy Trinity Church.
But all that came to an end when Mid Sussex District Council, which owns the meadow, "locked out" residents in 2013, the court heard.
The council then granted itself planning permission for a house on the site in January this year.
However last week Mrs Justice Lang overturned the permission, saying councillors had been "seriously misled" into granting it.
Their decision was also fatally inconsistent with previous refusals of planning consent for single dwellings in the countryside, she ruled.
One of the council's planning officers had recommended in a report that planning consent for the new house be granted.
The report said that the development was "acceptable" and would cause "less than substantial harm" to the conservation area.
It also stated that the "public benefits" of a "well-designed dwelling" on the meadow outweighed any harm that would be caused.
Upholding Irving's challenge, however, the judge said the officer's report failed to mention two key local countryside protection policies.
And its statement that the proposal complied with the local development plan "when read as a whole" was "seriously misleading", she ruled.
There was also an "unexplained inconsistency" with previous council decisions to refuse consent for two similar developments, she added.
The judge noted that the council could be expected to "make a profit" from selling the meadow with planning permission or with a new house built on it.
But it had not put that forward "as a reason in favour of granting itself planning permission."
The judge stopped short of finding that the council's decision was irrational, but noted that assessment of the public benefit of developing a countryside meadow in a conservation area was "a critical issue."
The new house, she added, would "occupy most of the open site and block the fine views of the countryside" from a neighbouring footpath.
Had councillors been correctly advised in the officer's report, their decision may well have been different, she told the court.
The planning permission, granted on January 18 2019, was quashed.
Radio Broadcasts
June 2016
November 2019
Important Update:
MID SUSSEX DISTRICT COUNCIL TAKEN TO HIGH COURT
HEARING: 19 NOVEMBER 2019
The High Court will hear the challenge to Mid Sussex District Council’s latest grant of planning permission to itself on 19 November 2019. The planning permission would allow the Council to build a huge house across The Play Meadow, obliterating the views of the South Downs and making it unusable by the public.
In 2016, the late Mr Justice Gilbart recognised the reality: that such a house would harm the Cuckfield Conservation Area. Like a dog with a bone, the Council refuses to acknowledge this or to hand back the space to the people of Cuckfield. The field continues to be padlocked with high hoarding boards.
How much more Council Tax Payers’ money is going to be spent on resubmitting plans for a huge house against local wishes and the advice of an eminent High Court judge? Is it not time for Mid Sussex District Council to take a long, hard look at itself in this matter? How can it turn down planning permission for a low-level eco building on land privately-owned in Courtmead Road, citing protection of the conservation area as the main stumbling block to approval, while passing planning permission for an enormous house on land it owns in the same conservation area at the end of the same road?
Hopefully the forthcoming judgment will put an end to this expensive nonsense and The Play Meadow will be left as a much-needed green space.
December 2018
PUBLIC FOOTPATH APPLICATION
Whilst researching the history of the public use of The Play Meadow, we discovered that there was a long history of use of it as a through-route from Courtmead Road to Newbury Lane. We also found documentary evidence that a footpath ran right down the centre of it in a southerly direction towards Newbury Lane. An application was made recently to West Sussex County Council to register this route as a public footpath, with witness statements from users to support it.
January 2018
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Mid Sussex District Council has put The Play Meadow into its January Sale: it’s yours for half the price, but double the risk.
Last summer, the High Court refused to quash the Council’s outline planning permission for a substantial house on The Play Meadow, on the basis of timing. Sir Ross Cranston, the retired judge sitting, declined to look too closely at Mid Sussex District Council’s conduct or the lawfulness of the grant of outline planning permission.
Mid Sussex District Council has at least decided to do one good thing: not to spend £000,000s of Council Tax payers’ money in building the house to get round the legal obstacle that The Play Meadow can’t be sold to a third party with the benefit of the outline planning permission which the Council granted to itself.
Instead, Mid Sussex District Council is marketing The Play Meadow as a building plot, but the prospective purchaser will have to re-apply for planning permission. This means that there is there is the real prospect of a further challenge in the High Court. The third party applicant will not be able to hide behind an argument about timing and the planning permission will have to be consistent with the judgment of Mr Justice Gilbart in 2016, who found that such development of The Play Meadow would cause significant harm to the Cuckfield Conservation Area. Mr Justice Gilbart quashed the planning permission in question.
The fight is not over!
The Mid Sussex Times - October 2016
Cuckfield Life - July 2016
High Court victory in Play Meadow campaign
Campaigners fighting to save Cuckfield’s well-loved play meadow have moved a step closer to victory after receiving backing from the High Court.
Flis Irving, who has fought tirelessly to keep the meadow as a community space, was delighted to receive news that the High Court had quashed Mid Sussex District Council’s grant of planning permission to build a substantial house on the land at the end of Courtmead Road.
Leading planning judge Mr Justice Gilbart, found that the council had acted unlawfully as the planning consent breached planning policy. He focused on the harm to the Cuckfield Conservation Area which the Council had actually identified before it went on to grant planning permission.
“It proves that if an individual fights hard enough for a just cause, it is possible to win against powerful government bodies with huge financial resources,” reflected Flis. “It is the first time in almost three years that there has been full scrutiny of the Council's actions, by an independent, qualified expert and he found that the Council had acted unlawfully. It is significant that Mr Justice Gilbart highlighted the importance of preserving The Play Meadow as part of the Cuckfield Conservation Area for the benefit of local people. I hope that the Council will finally take note and stop fighting for a third party to develop it."
This is the second time in 16 months that planning permission for a large house on The Play Meadow has been overturned by the High Court. The first time, the Council admitted its own error before a full hearing. The land is owned by the Council, which has rejected a community bid to secure its future for local people in favour of selling it to a developer.
Flis, along with support from owner of Next Step Nursery School, Janet Beales, has led the high profile campaign to keep The Play Meadow open for use by local people. In a recent interview with BBC Radio Sussex, Flis explained why the meadow is of such value to the village. “It is so rare to have an area of green in the centre of a village that can be of benefit to the whole community,” she said.
“With all the building that’s currently going on all around… every little bit of green area being gobbled up, it is an absolute delight to have this [The Play Meadow] here. When asked why she had engaged in this battle with the Council, Flis responded: “It was morally wrong what they were doing. They were acting as judge and jury… against what the local people had voted for in the Local Plan, which was to keep it [the meadow] as a green space.”
Janet Beales explained that the nursery moved to its current Cuckfield location in 1993 because of the need for an outside area for the children, which The Play Meadow provided. She added: “We’ve used it for sports days, we’ve used it for picnics - we’ve used it every day for just a ‘run around’. Every possible game that you can think of we’ve used it for, so that’s what we have been deprived of.” She went on to say that the meadow has also been regularly used by other local groups including the Brownies and a village youth club.
Flis was represented at the High Court hearing by James Pavey, Partner of Irwin Mitchell LLP solicitors, and Andrew Sharland, barrister, of 11KBW.
James said afterwards: “The Council has been trying too hard to grant permission, so that it can sell The Play Meadow for what amounts to inappropriate development. It is now difficult for the Council to avoid the fact that a substantial building in a conservation area, blocking clear views over the South Downs, would harm that conservation area. The Council should take stock, think hard about the environmental harm that such development would do, and act in the interests of the local community by dedicating The Play Meadow for public use as open space.”
A Mid Sussex District Council spokesperson said the land had been identified as a building plot as far back as the 1980s and added: “We are pleased that the court has clarified the complex legal position around one of the applications on this site."
Flis is aware that her fight is not yet over as the Council is likely to appeal the decision. “It seems that MSDC is going to appeal, so I face more stress and legal fees” she said resignedly, but expressed her hope that “with pressure from the community, it may do some soul-searching and reconsider.”
The Mid Sussex Times - July 2016
Response to the Judicial Review:
Delivering the Petition - November 2014
The petition to prevent development on The Play Meadow was handed in with 798 written objections and 297 on change.org bringing the total to 1095, an amazing achievement in just over a week. A further petition was also submitted independently by a local youth club.
October 2015
HIGH COURT SUCCESS
Last Thursday, 15th October, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Mr Justice Mitting gave the green light for a High Court challenge to MSDC’s decision to sell The Play Meadow for development. The council will no longer be able to act as judge and jury on the matter which could, eventually, see the land restored to public recreational use: an exciting prospect. The full story can be found in this edition of the Mid Sussex Times:
The Mid Sussex Times - June 2014
‘Royal’ actor joins planning battle
Veteran Edward VIII actor Edward Fox has joined Cuckfield’s battle royal to save its community Play Meadow.
Mr Fox, whose most famous roles include Edward VIII in Edward and Mrs Simpson, stepped into the spotlight with a heart-felt letter to campaign champion Flis Irving.
In it he said of the hard-fought over site: “It certainly should not be another damn ugly, common, rich man’s house.”
Mrs Irving, who lives next to the Play Meadow, wrote to the actor appealing after owner Mid Sussex District Council agreed to sell the much-treasured parcel of land for development.
The newly-formed Play Meadow Users Association has now raised more than £100,000 to try and out-bid a developer of the prime location plot, which sits between Courtmead Road and village centre.
Mrs Irving said Edward Fox, who grew up in Cuckfield alongside brother and fellow thespian James Fox, wrote back expressing support for the community effort.
The 77-year-old who starred in films including ‘Day of the Jackal’, ‘Never Say Never Again’ and ‘Gandhi’, said he had known Cuckfield closely for 75 years and remembered the Play Meadow. He recognised its value as a community asset where children could play and refer to nature.
Mrs Irving described the house now being proposed for the site as a “massive monstrosity” on four levels, with amended plans having made no difference.
She said: “The council’s own conservation officer is saying it is still a blot on the landscape.”
The district council sanctioned sale of the land and then applied to itself for outline planning permission for a detached five bedroomed house.
People have until July 4 to comment on the amended plans while the Play Meadow Users Association intends to bid for the land on behalf of the community later this month.
In a report to the council’s planning committee its own conservation officer Angela Haywood says: “The amended proposal does not address the concerns outlined in the preceding consultation (dated 22 April 2014) and the level of development remains inappropriately intensive.”
Previously she had said the proposal was for an “overwhelming” new dwelling of four stories projecting well beyond both the front and rear building lines. She said “a bulky, dominant form of development entirely alien to the streetscape of Courtmead Road is thus proposed.”
She added that the house would harm the distinctive qualities of Courtmead Road and the significance of the designated heritage asset as a whole.
But a council report is recommending it for approval saying: “Whilst it is accepted that the dwelling is substantial in size, it is not considered that its scale will result in substantial harm to the character of the area.
“Some harm may arise from this proposal as a result of the loss of panoramic views out of and across the site to the south. However the views into/across the site are only one component of the Conservation Area as a whole.
“It is considered that the limited harm generated by this proposal is not sufficient to outweigh the benefits of the proposal. For these reasons, taking into account the advice set out within the NPPF it is felt that this application can be supported.”
The Mid Sussex Times - April 2014
