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New Dawn Homes: reasoned justification may clarify local plan policy; aggregation of sites to meet affordable housing thresholds allowed retrospectively (EWHC 3314 (Admin), England and Wales)

Published on: 13 January 2017

Published by a LexisNexis Planning expert
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Original news New Dawn Homes Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2016] EWHC 3314 (Admin) What is the significance of the decision for authorities and developers?

Here, the outcome rested on the facts and the precise language of the local plan policy. The judgment serves as a useful prompt about how far the explanatory text within local plan policies may assist in construing the policies themselves. A plan's supporting text comprises the reasoned justification and any descriptive or explanatory material for a policy. While that material is pertinent to interpreting the related policy, it is not a policy, nor part of one; it lacks policy force and cannot override policy. It neither creates new policy nor forms any part of the binding policy wording. Its role is interpretative only and cannot be used to trump policy. Nonetheless, the courts will have regard to reasoned justification/explanatory material when construing policies that are ambiguous. Development plan policies commonly set thresholds for affordable housing delivery, helping to secure certainty for landowners, developers and the wider public. Such thresholds are frequently embedded in the plan itself to provide clarity and predictability. If any doubt arises in construing local plan policies,...

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