Further to Minute 13 (23 September 2019) David Ball, Assistant Director Major Growth Projects & Housing Delivery introduced the report of the Interim Director of Economic and Housing Growth that updated and advised Members on the present position in connection with the erection of three marquees at Thornton Manor. The report further provided Members with assurance that the Council was taking appropriate measures to address the criticisms set out in the recent Court of Appeal judgement.

The Assistant Director Major Growth Projects & Housing Delivery provided Members with a summary background to the matter and detailed the issues whereby Planning application APP/10/00445 (received by the Council on 9 April 2010) sought permission for the erection/retention of 3 marquees within Thornton Manor Estate (at The Dell, The Walled Garden and the Lake) to be used for private functions and conferences. He informed that following the Planning Committee decision, negotiations were begun about the detail of the Section 106 Agreement and on 11 November 2011, a Section 106 agreement was concluded.  Schedule 2 of the Agreement detailed a draft notice of the grant of planning permission, which included all 11 conditions and the reasons for them, including the condition with the five-year time limit.  At this point the Decision Notice containing all conditions should have been issued to the applicant thereby releasing the grant of Planning Permission.  However, for reasons that it has just not been possible to understand, a decision notice was not produced or issued on 11 November 2011 but was issued on 20 December 2011 and published to the Council’s web.  This Decision Notice had been issued without any conditions.

The Assistant Director Major Growth Projects & Housing Delivery informed that on 23 August 2017, a claim for judicial review of the Council’s decision was brought to the High Court by Thornton Hall Hotel Limited. The claimant (Thornton Hall Hotel Ltd) maintained that the decision issued on 20 December 2011 was a mistake and that the planning permission should have been subject to the conditions approved by the Planning Committee but omitted in error from the decision notice that granted the planning permission. The Local Planning Authority accepted and asserted that it made the error and did not contest the claim.

Following further explanation of the legal process in respect of the judicial review, and confirmation that in August of this year an appeal was lodged with the Planning Inspectorate against the Council’s decision to refuse planning permission - an appeal against the Enforcement Notice was also lodged on 17 September 2019. The Assistant Director Major Growth Projects & Housing Delivery confirmed that both matters were now with the Planning Inspectorate and were likely to be subject to a public inquiry in the coming months.  He stated that he wished to assure the Committee that the issues that brought about this situation had been addressed, to ensure nothing like this happened again.

Members questioned the Assistant Director Major Growth Projects & Housing Delivery on matters relating to the reasons for delay in identifying the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25