Parish Councils awarded costs for fighting factory plan

Published: 05-03-2009

CPRE Kent was instrumental in defeating a bid to build a cement block factory in the Green Belt and North Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) at Borough Green last year. Our partners at Wrotham and Ightham Parish Councils incurred significant legal costs that they hope to see returned. Below is the press release issued by Wrotham Parish Council (please note their views may not necessarily be those of CPRE):

"PRESS RELEASE: KENT COUNTY COUNCIL PAYS THE PRICE FOR IT’S ‘ENVIRONMENTAL VANDALISM.’

Kent County Council (KCC) and H+H Celcon (Celcon) have been found guilty by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) of behaving unreasonably towards Wrotham and Ightham Parish Councils who have been awarded all of their costs of the Celcon Block Factory Inquiry, as Rule 6 parties. We have heard from Matthew Horton QC’s chambers, WPC’s Barrister, that it is totally unprecedented for third party organisations to be awarded costs arising from Call-In Inquiries. Such was the magnitude of errors made by Celcon and KCC that an ‘exceptional’ award of all Rule 6 costs have been made against them.

“For (Celcon) to proceed beyond the Pre Inquiry Meeting in January 2007 and then submit the Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) application to KCC in March 2007………………. does not suggest a carefully planned approach to securing a desired outcome………………..
H&H, as a professionally represented applicant for planning permission in a major and locally controversial case, acted unreasonably by:

• not approaching the purely legal issue, of whether an earlier planning permission had been implemented in a reasonable and timely manner, given the separate statutory process for resolving that issue via an application for a lawful development certificate, with the result that

• the inquiry into the called-in planning application collapsed following its late withdrawal thus causing other parties to incur abortive expense.”

The PINS ruled against H+H Celcon for their late submission for a LDC and made them liable for all of KCC’s costs though out the Inquiry and partially liable for the majority of the Parish Councils costs.

In a further twist in this complex tale of incompetence, on the 11 May 2007 KCC granted Celcon’s late request for a Lawful Development Certificate. When Keep Boroughs Green asked for Judicial Review of that decision, KCC formally admitted by letter to the PINS on the 29 August 2007 that they had done so without checking the evidence and they should not have issued the LDC.

That fateful decision has resulted in an award of costs against KCC for part of Celcon’s costs and half of the Parish Councils from 11 May 2007.

“This reflects badly on both KCC and Celcon”, said Cllr Harry Rayner, Chairman of Wrotham Parish Council (WPC), “Celcon has lost all of their application costs, but the largest financial penalties are imposed on KCC. Celcon fielded a barrister with a team of ten consultants and expert witnesses at the Inquiry, which KCC now have to pay for along with a significant proportion of the two Parish Council’s costs as well.”

Cllr Rayner continued, “The big loser in all this is the Kent Tax Payer, as a direct result of KCC Application Planning Department’s incompetence. Last year KCC paid out over £88,000 in opponents legal costs on Planning Judicial Reviews in Wrotham Parish alone, and will now no doubt be hit with bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds by the time all this is settled.”

Meanwhile the loss to the Kent Council taxpayer continues to escalate, because solicitors acting for all parties need to submit their claims and then argue the merits of each in an attempt to agree final amounts. In the event that there is no agreement the claims have to be submitted to the Supreme Court Costs Office.

Cllr Pete Gillin, Vice Chairman of WPC concluded, “KCC as the Planning Authority, allowed themselves to become far too close to a multi-national company who wanted to trade planning consent, in a highly protected area of Green Belt and Outstanding Natural Beauty, for a road that, if necessary, should be paid for by public funds; and now the Council Taxpayers of Kent are paying the price.”

Press release by Wrotham Parish Council, 3 march 2009

Lesley Cox
Clerk
PO Box 228
Sevenoaks
TN13 9BY
T: 01732 886139
For further information contact Cllr Harry Rayner.
T: 01732 885200
M: 07836 211498
E: harry@pilgrim.demon.co.uk"

Associated Districts

• Tonbridge and Malling

Associated Campaigns

• Protected Landscapes

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