High court overturns Lancaster rejection of 644 homes

Siding with Gladman Developments over the Planning Inspectorate and city council, a judge ruled that it was wrong to dismiss the application just because of a lack of sequential test for flood risk.

The high court decision was the checkmate needed for Gladman, which had deliberately used its plans for 644 homes on 97 acres of Green Belt off Bailrigg Lane as a means to challenge an increase in sequential-test-based refusals in the planning sector.

The verdict saw the conclusion of a two-year chess match that began with Lancaster City Council’s initial refusal of the project in December 2023.

At that time, flood risks and a lack of sequential test had been among the reasons for refusal. This was in spite of only a small part of its western boundary being within flood zones two and three, neither the Environment Agency nor Lead Local Authority had objected, and Gladman’s proposed surface water drainage strategy would actually reduce the risk of flooding on the site.

In November 2024, the Planning Inspectorate agreed with the city council. However, the inspector dismissed three grounds for refusal from the city council: qualms over urban design, impact on nearby heritage, and effects on nearby protected sites. One reason for rection did stand: the lack of a sequential test due to flood risk.

Acting for Gladman, Melissa Murphy, King’s counsel at Landmark Chambers, argued that the inspector erred in law by seeing the lack of a sequential test as reason for an automatic dismissal.

The High Court justice agreed with Murphy, noting that the project, by the inspector’s own admission, would lower the likelihood of flood risk. The justice said that the inspector had not weighed the planning balance accurately by giving the lack of a sequential test the power to torpedo an application without consideration of other factors.

Planning policy also had moved on by the time of the High Court decision. September’s Planning Policy Guidance update elaborated on sequential tests and when they were necessary – in the case of projects where a flood risk assessment can demonstrate that surface water flooding will decrease flood risk then a sequential test is not necessary. This fits the bill with the Bailrigg project.

You can read the full decision on Murphy’s LinkedIn page.

Lancaster City Council and Gladman were both approached for comment.

Whether Bailrigg will be delivered remains unclear. The site was earmarked in December 2024 to become the new home of the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. At the time, a land deal between University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and the private landowner was in the works, with Savills acting for the landowner.

To learn more about the Bailrigg project, search reference 19/01135/OUT on Lancaster City Council’s planning portal.