Leeds council suffers defeat in greenfield protection case

 

A legal bid by Leeds city council to protect greenfield sites around the city from development has been defeated in the High Court.

The council was challenging a Government planning inspector’s decision in October 2009 to grant outline consent to developer Libra Demolition for 40 new homes on a greenfield site to the south east of Yeadon within the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough.

In February 2009, the council had refused the developer permission for the scheme on the grounds that there was a sufficient supply of previously developed land available for housing and if a greenfield site was developed while brownfield sites remained undeveloped, the regeneration of the urban areas in the city would be compromised.

The council argued there were likely to be enough brownfield sites in the city to meet projected demand for 20,570 new homes between 2009 and 2014 and so there was no need to free up greenfield sites for development.

However, the inspector concluded that only 17,950 new homes were likely to become available over that period, leaving a deficit of almost 3,000 and the potential for a housing shortage.

Dismissing the challenge to the inspector’s decision, High Court judge Mr Justice Keith ruled that the inspector had not ignored the council concerns and furthermore, taking into account national, regional and local planning policy, the inspector had not erred in granting the outline planning permission.

christian.metcalfe@estatesgazette.com