The Demise of Stopgap Planning Guidance - The Decision of the High Court in 

Skipton Properties Limited v Craven District Council

On Monday 20th March, the High Court (Jay J) handed down judgment in Skipton Properties Limited v Craven District Council [2017] EWHC 534 (Admin). In a decision that will have implications for many local authorities and developers around the country, the court has struck down an affordable housing interim policy.

This was a challenge to the adoption of interim affordable housing guidance by Craven District Council on the basis that the guidance document contained statements that fell within Regulation 5 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, and must therefore have been a development plan document or, in the alternative, a supplementary planning document. The Council had failed to comply with the procedural requirements for adopting either development plan or supplementary planning documents under the 2012 Regulations, and had also failed to carry out SEA.

The Council has been operating without a saved policy on affordable housing for the last decade and it had sought to fill that policy 'vacuum' by resorting to interim affordable housing guidance over a period of years, with the most recent version of the guidance having been adopted in August 2016.

Mr Justice Jay allowed the claim and quashed the guidance document, finding that it was a development plan document and that it therefore required SEA. The clear implication of this decision is that there is no scope for local planning authorities to adopt stopgap or interim planning guidance in circumstances in which the subject matter of the guidance falls within the ambit of the 2012 Regulations.