“In summary, these provisions mean that each development plan document is subject to an examination in public by an independent inspector appointed by the Secretary of State, who determines (i) whether the plan complies with various procedural requirements, (ii) whether the plan is ‘sound’…, and (iii) whether it is reasonable to conclude that the local planning authority has complied with any duty to cooperate. Having done so, there are three courses open to the inspector: i) If he is satisfied that the plan meets the procedural and ‘soundness’ requirements, he must recommend adoption of the plan and the authority may adopt the plan. ii) If he is not satisfied as to these two matters, and is not satisfied that the authority has complied with its duty to cooperate, he must recommend non-adoption and the authority must not adopt the plan. iii) If he is not satisfied as to these two matters, but is satisfied that the authority has complied with its duty to cooperate, he must recommend non-adoption; but, on the authority’s request, he must also recommend modifications to the plan that would make it satisfy those two requirements. The authority may then adopt the plan with those modifications.” i) If he is satisfied that the plan meets the procedural and ‘soundness’ requirements, he must recommend adoption of the plan and the authority may adopt the plan. ii) If he is not satisfied as to these two matters, and is not satisfied that the authority has complied with its duty to cooperate, he must recommend non-adoption and the authority must not adopt the plan. iii) If he is not satisfied as to these two matters, but is satisfied that the authority has complied with its duty to cooperate, he must recommend non-adoption; but, on the authority’s request, he must also recommend modifications to the plan that would make it satisfy those two requirements. The authority may then adopt the plan with those modifications.”
“To boost significantly the supply of housing, local planning authorities should: • use their evidence base to ensure that their Local Plan meets the full, objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing in the housing market area, as far as is consistent with the policies set out in this Framework, including identifying key sites which are critical to the delivery of the housing strategy over the plan period; • identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide five years worth of housing against their housing requirements with an additional buffer of 5% (moved forward from later in the plan period) to ensure choice and competition in the market for land…”
“31 Thus, the NPPF departed from the previous national guidance in two important ways. i) In line with theLocalism Act 2011 , the NPPF abandoned the regional, top down, approach to housing strategy in favour of localism with a duty to cooperate with neighbouring authorities. The burden of developing housing strategy now falls on local planning authorities. ii) Whilst clearly subject to a requirement that both plan-making and decision-taking must be consistent with other NPPF policies – including those designed to protect the environment – the NPPF put considerable new emphasis on the policy imperative of increasing the supply of housing. As reflected in the first words of the Ministerial Foreword…, in relation to dwellings, there was a policy objective to achieve a significant increase in supply. Therefore, the NPPF imposed the policy goal on a local authority of meeting its full, objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing, unless and only to the extent that other policies were inconsistent with that goal. Thus, paragraph 47 makes full objectively assessed housing needs, not just a material consideration, but a consideration of particular standing.” i) In line with theLocalism Act 2011 , the NPPF abandoned the regional, top down, approach to housing strategy in favour of localism with a duty to cooperate with neighbouring authorities. The burden of developing housing strategy now falls on local planning authorities. ii) Whilst clearly subject to a requirement that both plan-making and decision-taking must be consistent with other NPPF policies – including those designed to protect the environment – the NPPF put considerable new emphasis on the policy imperative of increasing the supply of housing. As reflected in the first words of the Ministerial Foreword…, in relation to dwellings, there was a policy objective to achieve a significant increase in supply. Therefore, the NPPF imposed the policy goal on a local authority of meeting its full, objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing, unless and only to the extent that other policies were inconsistent with that goal. Thus, paragraph 47 makes full objectively assessed housing needs, not just a material consideration, but a consideration of particular standing.”
“… [It] is clear that paragraph 47 of the NPPF requires full housing needs to be assessed in some way. It is insufficient, for NPPF purposes, for all material considerations (including need, demand and other relevant policies) simply to be weighed together. Nor is it sufficient simply to determine the maximum housing supply available, and constrain housing provision targets to that figure. Paragraph 47 requires full housing needs to be objectively assessed, and then a distinct assessment made as to whether (and, if so, to what extent) other policies dictate or justify constraint. Here, numbers matter; because the larger the need, the more pressure will or might be applied to infringe [sic: I apprehend ‘impinge’ is meant]on other inconsistent policies. The balancing exercise required by paragraph 47 cannot be performed without being informed by the actual full housing need.”
“Where it would be appropriate and assist the process of preparing or amending Local Plans, regional strategy policies can be reflected in Local Plans by undertaking a partial review focusing on the specific issues involved. Local planning authorities may also continue to draw on evidence that informed the preparation of regional strategies to support Local Plan policies, supplemented as needed by up-to-date, robust local evidence.”
“The level of housing provision should be determined taking a strategic, evidence-based approach that takes into account relevant local, sub-regional, regional and national policies and strategies…”
“96. Mr Dove submitted that paragraph 218 of the NPPF encouraged – or at least allowed – the use of regional strategy policies and evidence that informed the preparation of regional strategy in the preparation of Local Plans. It was therefore open to the Inspector to take the policy on figure derived from the WM [sc. West Midlands] RSS Phase 2 Revision process, into which relevant demographic and other housing need evidence had gone, together with the relevant policy considerations, and which had been tested at an examination in public; and then see whether any more recent housing need evidence (e.g. later projections and SHMAs), or change in policy, undermined the Panel’s figure. That there had been no material alteration in circumstances was a matter for the planning judgment of the Inspector. The conclusion he reached had a clear evidential foundation, and was unimpeachable in law. 97. However, that fails to acknowledge the major policy changes in relation to housing supply brought into play by the NPPF. As I have emphasised, in terms of housing strategy, unlike its predecessor (which required a balancing exercise involving all material considerations, including need, demand and relevant policy factors), the NPPF requires plan-makers to focus on full objectively assessed need for housing, and to meet that need unless (and only to the extent that) other policy factors within the NPPF dictate otherwise. That, too, requires a balancing exercise – to see whether other policy factors significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of such housing provision – but that is a very different exercise from that required pre-NPPF. The change of emphasis in the NPPF clearly intended that paragraph 47 should, on occasions, yield different results from earlier policy scheme; and it is clear that it may do so. 98. Where housing data survive from an earlier regional strategy exercise, they can of course be used in the exercise of making a local plan now – paragraph 218 of the NPPF makes that clear – but where, as in this case, the plan-maker uses a policy on figure from an earlier regional strategy, even as a starting point, he can only do so with extreme caution – because of the radical policy change in respect of housing provision effected by the NPPF. In this case, I accept that it was open to the Inspector to decide that the urban renaissance policy continued to be potent, and even (possibly) that the evidence of housing need had not significantly changed since the WM RSS Phase 2 Revision Draft target was set – those were matters of planning judgment, for him. However, in my judgment, in his approach, he failed to acknowledge the new, NPPF world, with its greater policy emphasis on housing provision; and its approach to start with full objectively assessed housing need and then proceed to determine whether other NPPF policies require that, in a particular area, less than the housing needed be provided. The WM RSS Phase 2 Revision Panel did not, of course, adopt that approach. Nor did the guidance provided by the Secretary of State on the revocation of regional strategies in 2010… take the new policy into account. Both were pre-March 2012, when the NPPF was published.”
“Mr Dove conceded – as he had to do – that neither the SLP nor the Inspector provided any full and objective assessment of housing need”
“…but, he submitted, it was not necessary for a plan to identify such a figure and, on a proper analysis of the Inspector’s Report, the substantive requirements of the NPPF (including those of paragraphs 47 and 159) were satisfied in this case.”
“The SHMA does not attempt to model new-build housing need as it is set in the context of the requirements of the emerging RSS.”
“Furthermore, the proposed housing provision level in the SLP [sc. 11,000 new dwellings] exceeds that which would be needed by the Borough’s own population and includes a significant element (60-65%) associated with in-migration, reflecting the urban renaissance strategy. With a successful continued implementation of the urban renaissance strategy, there may not actually be any shortfall in housing provision compared with the latest 2008 and 2011-based household projections.”
“Taking account of all the evidence and having examined all the elements that go into making an objective assessment of housing requirements, a total level of 11,000 dwellings or 500 dwellings/year represents an effective, justified and soundly based figure which would meet the current identified housing needs of the district over the plan period and, with the agreed amendments, is consistent with the overall requirements of national policy in the NPPF.”
“It is considered that 11,000 (net) additional homes can be delivered towards meeting projected household growth of 14,000 households (2006-2028). This is the level of housing provision that the Council considers can be provided without adverse impact on the Meriden Gap, without an unsustainable short-term urban extension south of Shirley and without risking any more generalised threat to Solihull’s high quality environment.”
“The Inspector did not acknowledge, or take into account, that change. I accept that the Inspector might have taken that change into account in a number of ways. However, in one way or another, he was required to assess, fully and objectively, the housing need in the area. In the event, he made no attempt to do so. Mr Dove conceded – as he had to do – that neither the SLP nor the Inspector provided any full and objective assessment of housing need. Nor is there any evidence that the WM RSS Phase 2 Revision Panel made such an assessment, either: they had evidence of need before them, but there is no evidence that, as required by the NPPF, they assessed the full and objective housing need before considering constraints on meeting that need. Indeed, the evidence is that they went straight to policy on figures for the region in a conventional planning balancing exercise, with all material factors in play – as they were entitled to do under the pre-NPPF regime – and then proceeded to carve up that policy on requirement between the various areas within the region. Even as a surrogate, that did not comply with the NPPF requirements, properly construed. The further projections and 2009 SHMA did nothing to assist in this regard.”
“EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES”
“…Local planning authorities with Green Belts in their area should establish Green Belt boundaries in their Local Plans which set the framework for Green Belt and settlement policy. Once established, Green Belt boundaries should only be altered in exceptional circumstances, through the preparation or review of the Local Plan. At that time, authorities should consider the Green Belt boundaries having regard to their intended permanence in the long term, so that they should be capable of enduring beyond the plan period.”
“120. The SLP allocated the Sites to the Green Belt, whilst removing other sites (particularly in the north of the borough) as the most appropriate means of providing land sufficient to meet the housing requirement which it of course set at 11,000 new dwellings by 2028. There were strong objections to the reallocation of the Sites, on the basis that a reallocation could only be made in exceptional circumstances – and no such circumstances existed in this case.”
“3.149…Both sites are well contained and the Green Belt boundary remains firm and well-defined. There is no erosion of the gap between Solihull and Redditch and, given the retention of the Green Belt around Grimes Hill in Bromsgrove DC, no risk of coalescence with this settlement. Their designation as safeguarded land would not harm the visual amenity or open character of the adjoining Green Belt, and provides certainty, rather than blight. Given the enduring nature of Green Belt boundaries and the firm advice in PPG2 that such boundaries should not be frequently changed, I can see no exceptional circumstances that would justify deleting the sites as safeguarded land or returning them to the Green Belt.”
“There is also serious concern about the proposed return to the Green Belt of some Safeguarded Land previously identified in the SUDP. However, when the SUDP was examined, it was made clear that the status of this land should be reviewed in the context of the approved and emerging WMRSS strategy of urban renaissance… SMBC [the Council] undertook this review, and rejected the future development sites at Tidbury Green because this settlement lacks the range of facilities necessary for further strategic housing growth; the scale of development envisaged would also be far too large to meet local housing needs and would threaten the coalescence with settlements, including Grimes Hill. National policy enables reviews of the Green Belt to be undertaken (NPPF paragraph 84), including considering the need to promote sustainable patterns of development, and it is clear from SMBC’s evidence that these sites would not meet this objective. These factors constitute legitimate reasons and represent the exceptional circumstances necessary to justify returning these sites to the Green Belt.”
“The safeguarded land at Tidbury Green was removed from the Green Belt in the UDP 1997 for possible long term housing needs. Following assessment in the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment, this land is no longer considered suitable for development and is proposed to be returned to Green Belt.”
“135. I am persuaded by Mr Lockhart-Mummery that the Inspector, unfortunately, did not adopt the correct approach to the proposed revision of the Green Belt boundary to include the Sites, which had previously been white, unallocated land. He performed an exercise of simply balancing the various current policy factors, and, using his planning judgement, concluding that it was unlikely that either of these two sites would, under current policies, likely to be found suitable for development. That, in his judgment, may now be so: but that falls very far short of the stringent test for exceptional circumstances that any revision of the Green Belt boundary must satisfy. There is nothing in this case that suggests that any of the assumptions upon which the Green Belt boundary was set has proved unfounded, nor has anything occurred since the Green Belt boundary was set that might justify the redefinition of the boundary.”
“I would hold that the requisite necessity in a PPG 2 paragraph 2.7 case like the present – where the revision proposed is to increase the Green Belt – cannot be adjudged to arise unless some fundamental assumption which caused the land initially to be excluded from the Green Belt is thereafter clearly and permanently falsified by a later event. Only then could the continuing exclusion of the land from the Green Belt properly be described as ‘an incongruous anomaly’.”
“… [O]nce a green belt has been established and approved as a result of all the normal statutory processes it must require exceptional circumstances rather than general planning concepts to justify an alteration. Whichever way the boundary is altered there must be serious prejudice one way or the other to the parties involved.”
“79. The Government attaches great importance to Green Belts. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence. 80. Green Belt serves five purposes: • To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; • To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another; • To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment; • To prevent the setting and special character of historic towns; and • To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.”
“b) For redefinition of a Green Belt, paragraph 2.7 of PPG2 required exceptional circumstances which ‘necessitated’ a revision of the existing boundary. However, this is a single composite test; because, for these purposes, circumstances are not exceptional unless they do necessitate a revision of the boundary (COPAS at [23] per Simon Brown LJ). Therefore, although the words requiring necessity for a boundary revision have been omitted from paragraph 83 of the NPPF, the test remains the same. Mr Dove expressly accepted that interpretation. He was right to do so.” derelict and other urban land.”
“When drawing up or reviewing Green Belt boundaries local planning authorities should take account of the need to promote sustainable patterns of development. They should consider the consequences for sustainable development of channelling development towards urban areas inside the Green Belt boundary, towards town and villages inset with the Green Belt or towards locations beyond the outer Green Belt boundary.”