Planning news – 24 April 2025

High Court rules planning applications are legally ‘made’ on the day they’re first received

The High Court has confirmed that a planning application is legally “made” on the day the local authority first receives the forms and fee, even if further documents are demanded and supplied later. The case arose after Westchurch Homes Ltd applied, on 11 January 2023, for permission to build 133 homes in Bolton.  

On 30 January the council told the developer the submission was incomplete and asked for extra material; only on 18 April did officers formally validate the application.  

Permission followed in October. Morris Homes (North) Ltd challenged the consent, arguing that Biodiversity Net Gain rules should have applied because, in its view, the application was not “made” until the April validation date. 

Bolton Council defended its decision by insisting that making an application and validating it are two distinct stages: an application is “made” the moment the authority receives the application and fee; validation is the later administrative check that all required information is present. The court agreed.  

Mr Justice Holgate, relying on the principle set out in Camden London Borough Council v ADC Estates Ltd (1991), held that the crucial date is the earliest moment the application lands with the authority. Any subsequent amendments or supporting documents do not reset that date.  

Because Westchurch’s application was therefore “made” on 11 January – well before statutory Biodiversity Net Gain requirements commenced – the permission was lawfully granted. 

The ruling matters because many new planning policies, from BNG to design codes or nutrientneutrality measures, are triggered by the date an application is made.  

Visit Planning to learn more. 

Inspector approves grey belt scheme, defining nearby settlement as ‘village’

A planning inspector has approved a major housing scheme on land at Daws Heath Road, Essex, after deciding the neighbouring settlement of Daws Heath is a ‘village’ rather than a town. That verdict places the site in the new ‘grey belt’ category and unlocks a development that Castle Point Borough Council had previously refused. 

‘Grey belt’, written into policy with last year’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), has already seen several controversial approvals. Last week we reported that Solihull council postponed forthcoming Green Belt decisions, due to legal concerns over how the fledgling ‘grey belt’ designation has already been applied there.  

‘Grey belt’ can be applied to pockets of Green Belt that make little contribution to core purposes of the Green Belt, including curbing urban sprawl, stopping towns from merging and protecting historictown settings. 

According to Planning, the council’s original refusal of the scheme rested on traditional Green Belt tests – deeming the 173home project “inappropriate” and lacking the “very special circumstances” needed for approval. On appeal, Inspector T Burnham stressed that the antisprawl and anticoalescence purposes relate to towns and “large builtup areas”. Because Daws Heath has limited services and facilities, Burnham found it functions as a village; the development site therefore qualifies as ‘grey belt’ and its release would not undermine wider Green Belt aims. The impact on historictown setting was ruled irrelevant. 

Burnham further noted that no Footnote 7 constraints apply and that the project meets all “goldenrule” requirements: fifty per cent affordable housing, usable public open space, and measurable biodiversity net gain. With Castle Point able to show barely 0.6 years of housing land supply, the inspector concluded the scheme’s social benefits outweighed limited Green Belt harm. 

The ruling, arriving as other councils face legal scrutiny over ‘grey belt’ choices, is likely to intensify the debate over how far the new policy reshapes longstanding Green Belt protections. 

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Government set to scrap statutory preapplication consultation for major infrastructure

Matthew Pennycook has confirmed government will amend its Planning and Infrastructure Bill to remove the legal duty for developers to carry out statutory consultation before submitting applications for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in England and Wales. 

The housing and planning minister told Parliament that there is “considerable evidence” that the current statutory consultation requirements “are driving perverse outcomes.”  

He explained that statutory procedures have “become a tickbox exercise that encourages risk aversion and goldplating,” which has led to longer, more technical documents and “consultation fatigue” for communities. Pennycook confirmed that developers would no longer be required to prepare and consult on preliminary environmental information as part of the preapplication stage, and that the process could be shortened by up to a year in many cases, reducing costs and complexity for projects such as electricity networks, roads, and water infrastructure. 

Pennycook also noted that while the statutory requirements are being removed, new statutory guidance, which will be consulted on this summer, will emphasise that applications are unlikely to progress to examination if there has been inadequate consultation at the preapplication stage. He stressed that “highquality early, meaningful and constructive engagement” would remain vital to the process. 

Local authorities and communities will retain the right to comment, object, and provide evidence once an NSIP application is lodged. The Planning Inspectorate will continue to assess whether applications lacking adequate early engagement can proceed to examination. 

The Bill, introduced to Parliament in March 2025, begins its Committee stage on 24 April, when the amendments will be debated. Draft guidance is expected later this summer, with secondary legislation required before the changes take effect.