AC-2024-MAN-000347 - [2025] EWHC 2630 (Admin)

The Defendant’s decision was vitiated by the legally erroneous approach of a senior member of the Committee, Ms Tiffany Hunt MBE, to the application of the Sandford principle, which is given legal effect by section 11A(1A) of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 [“the 1949 Act”].

In the report, the Defendant’s Committee were given materially misleading advice by the planning officer in relation to the efficacy of condition 9 imposed on the planning permission and the ability of the Defendant to enforce the measures proposed in the Interested Party’s submitted travel plan. As a result, the Defendant’s Committee took account of an immaterial consideration when they resolved to grant planning permission.

The Defendant’s Committee based their decision to grant planning permission on advice given by the planning officer that no harm to the landscape would result from the increased traffic on local roads generated by the development. That advice was irrational, founded upon a misinterpretation of relevant planning policy and failed to take account of a material consideration.