Land to the east of Hillside Road, Broughton, BRIGG, DN20 0HQ

Land to the east of Hillside Road, Broughton, BRIGG, DN20 0HQ — North Lincolnshire Council — Costs Decision Site visit made on 2 August 2021 by Chris Baxter BA (Hons) DipTP MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 9 September 2021 Costs application in relation to Appeal Ref: APP/Y2003/W/21/3267926 Land east of Hillside Road, Broughton DN20 0HQ • The application is made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, sections 78, 322 and Schedule 6, and the Local Government Act 1972, section 250(5). • The application is made by Partner Construction for a full award of costs North Lincolnshire Council. • The appeal was against the refusal of planning permission for development of 24 residential dwellings (Use Class C3), comprising 12 rent to homebuy, 6 shared ownership and 6 open market dwellings. Decision 1. The application for an award of costs is partially allowed, in the terms set out below. Reasons 2. Paragraph 030 of the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) advises that costs may be awarded against a party who has behaved unreasonably and thereby caused the party applying for costs to incur unnecessary or wasted expense in the appeal process. 3. Paragraphs 047 and 049 of the PPG states examples of unreasonable behaviour by local planning authorities in terms of procedural and substantive matters.

Land to the east of Hillside Road, Broughton, BRIGG, DN20 0HQ — North Lincolnshire Council — Costs Decision These include failure to produce evidence to substantiate each reason for refusal on appeal; vague, generalised or inaccurate assertions about a proposal’s impact, which are unsupported by any objective analysis; preventing or delaying development which should clearly be permitted, having regard to its accordance with the development plan, national policy and any other material considerations; and not determining similar cases in a consistent manner. 4. Whilst the Council is not duty bound to follow advice of its professional officers, if a different decision is reached the Council has to clearly demonstrate on planning grounds why a proposal is unacceptable and provide clear evidence to substantiate that reasoning. In this case, the Highway Officers had not raised any objections to the proposal in terms of effects of the proposal on highway safety. The alleged harm to highway safety has not been substantiated other than by means of a vague assertion that the access and Hillside Road are not a suitable width and this would affect traffic flow and parking. Insufficient evidence has been put forward by the Council to support the reason for refusal in relation to highway safety.

Land to the east of Hillside Road, Broughton, BRIGG, DN20 0HQ — North Lincolnshire Council — Costs Decision The Council have acted unreasonable in this regard. https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate

Land to the east of Hillside Road, Broughton, BRIGG, DN20 0HQ — North Lincolnshire Council — Costs Decision The Council have acted unreasonable in this regard. https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate Costs Decision APP/Y2003/W/21/3267926 5. The applicant considers that the Council have failed to consider the implications of all the evidence including matters relating to affordable housing need and rural exceptions sites. The committee report was a comprehensive document that covered the main issues of the application and there is no evidence before me to suggest that all the application documents were not available to Members of the planning committee. The applicant also indicates that the Council have failed in providing clarity on elements of the policies cited in the refusal reasons. Whilst the Council’s statement of case is lacking in specific detail it does conclude that the harm identified by the Members in respect of character and appearance would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits brought about by the development. I do not consider the Council have acted unreasonably in this regard. 6. The applicant has described a lack of officer presentation at the committee meeting and that they consider the committee vote not to be binding due to technical issues which interrupted Member full attendance.

Land to the east of Hillside Road, Broughton, BRIGG, DN20 0HQ — North Lincolnshire Council — Costs Decision The Council have stated that the application has followed the democratic process set out in the scheme of delegation. Nevertheless, from the evidence before me it does appear that the Council may have erred in the consideration of the application at the committee. That being said, even if I was to find that the Council had acted unreasonably in this regard, I do not consider this would have led to a different decision and therefore it would not have resulted in unnecessary or wasted expense for the applicant. 7. The Council, in respect of the first reason for refusal relating to highway safety, have provided vague and generalised assertions about the proposal’s impact, which are not supported by any objective analysis and have therefore failed to produce evidence to substantiate the refusal reason. This constitutes unreasonable behaviour contrary to the guidance in the PPG and the appellant has been faced with the unnecessary expense of lodging the appeal. 8. I therefore conclude that a partial award of costs, to cover the expense incurred by the appellant in contesting the Council’s first reason for refusal, is justified. Costs Order 9.

Land to the east of Hillside Road, Broughton, BRIGG, DN20 0HQ — North Lincolnshire Council — Costs Decision In exercise of the powers under section 250(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 and Schedule 6 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended, and all other enabling powers in that behalf, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that North Lincolnshire Council shall pay to Partner Construction the costs of the appeal proceedings described in the heading of this decision, limited to those costs incurred in contesting the Council’s first reason for refusal, which concerned alleged harm to highway safety. 10. The applicant is now invited to submit to the Council, to whom a copy of this decision has been sent, details of those costs with a view to reaching agreement as to the amount.

Land to the east of Hillside Road, Broughton, BRIGG, DN20 0HQ — North Lincolnshire Council — Chris Baxter INSPECTOR https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2