Call to strip borough council of planning powers after it loses Judicial Review

Halton Borough Council’s planning department should be stripped of its planning powers after it was blasted as “not fit for purpose” today.

The call has come from Hale Bank Parish Council, in Widnes, after it won its third Judicial Review into a decision made by parent authority Halton.

The High Court, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, quashed Halton’s decision to grant planning permission to French waste giants Veolia to build a waste transfer station in the Parish Council’s village.

If it had gone ahead the permission would have allowed Veolia to transport 85,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste and 40,000 tonnes of construction, demolition and excavation materials annually through Hale Bank, with up to 150 extra vehicles on the village roads every day, 90 of those being HGVs.

Acting chairman, Cllr Kieran Reed, said: “This is not a time for celebration. This decision should never have been made by Halton Council in the first place.

“Parish councillors attended the meeting where this decision was made and we told Halton to approve it would be unlawful and they carried on regardless.”

Cllr Reed explained the Hale Bank site was not listed in the Joint Waste Development Plan – a legal planning agreement between Halton Council and five other Merseyside authorities, Liverpool, Wirral, St Helens, Knowsley and Sefton – as one to be used for a waste transfer station.

“It beggars belief that Halton signed up to this with the other authorities and then chose to ignore it. This is just one of the reasons we will be writing to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to demand Halton loses its planning powers.

“We believe they are a disgrace and make their decisions based purely on economic need, riding roughshod over planning laws.”

Cllr Reed explained this is the third occasion Hale Bank Parish Council has been forced to take Halton to court via the judicial review process for unlawful planning decisions.

Hale Bank Parish Council’s previous successful judicial review cases with Halton Council were in 2012 regarding the proposed 1m sq ft Amazon shed, and again in 2012 regarding refusal to designate land in Hale Bank as a Village Green.

The Village Green application did not reach the High Court as Halton Borough Council agreed to pay legal costs and designate the land, but not until the Parish Council had commenced the JR process.

Cllr Reed added: “Given their shocking track record, we will be asking the Government Minister to prevent Halton from continuing with current their local plan.

“In our opinion, based on a fair bit of evidence, they are simply not to be trusted.”

Halton Council’s local plan, the DALP (Delivery and Allocations Local Plan), is currently awaiting inspection by a Government-appointed planning inspector following two rounds of public consultation.

Cllr Reed said: “Halton want to take virtually all of the greenbelt out of our village for housing. There is no infrastructure in place for this in terms of roads, facilities and shops. Plus, our area is sandwiched between two top tier COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) sites. One of which Halton’s planners conveniently left off their consultation map.

“The people of Hale Bank have had enough of this behaviour and it is totally wrong and unfair that they should be forced to engage in costly legal battles time and time again because of Halton Council’s legal decisions.

“It has to stop.”

A spokesperson for Halton Borough Council said: “The council will implement the judge’s decision, the effect of which is to quash the existing planning permission.

“This now means that the planning application will require consideration again by the local planning authority.

“The judgement centres around a technical assessment of a policy within the Waste Local Plan and the level of information provided to the planning committee at the time of considering the application. This will need to be addressed when that re-consideration takes place.”

Hale Bank Parish Council is represented by Richard Buxton Solicitors, Cambridge and Landmark Chambers, London.