LSH wins planning appeal for Charles Church

Plans for 29 houses and apartments at Church Farm, Tilstock Lane, Whitchurch, have been approved following a successful appeal by Lambert Smith Hampton.

Charles Church originally submitted the application for the residential development in August 2007, but the occupation of the houses was restricted by the North Shropshire council by way of a condition attached to the planning permission.

The condition, which prevented the occupation of dwellings prior to the upgrading of the Terminal Foul Water Pumping Station in the village of Tilstock, was successfully removed from the planning permission following LSH's appeal.

Planners in LSH's Manchester office also recovered costs against the council on the basis of its unreasonable conduct. The local planning authority was found to have gone against the advice of Severn Trent Water when it imposed the condition.

Richard Moffat, director of LSH's planning team in Manchester, said: "This case clearly demonstrates that conditions attached to planning permissions are as important as the permissions themselves.

"Government guidance and decisions taken by courts have previously indicated that conditions should not be attached to planning permissions if there is no evidence that they are required. LSH's aim is to ensure that any planning permission granted to our clients is commercially viable for them and to challenge the council's decision where unreasonable conditions have been applied, avoiding the appeal process wherever possible.

"If local planning authorities are to avoid having costs awarded against them at appeal, they need to ensure that they are able justify their reasons for imposing conditions before doing so."