North London Borough refuses redevelopment plans for ACV listed library

However, experts have expressed concerns at the decision because they say the ACV regime, introduced by the Localism Act, was designed to give communities a "right to bid" rather than a right to block development plans.

The Council's planning committee last week rejected proposals to convert the former library, which was listed as an ACV in December last year, into flats and community space following a recommendation for refusal in a report (11-page / 704KB PDF) by planning officers.

The officers said they considered that the proposal would fail to provide sufficient mitigation for the loss of the existing ACV. They said that the building's ACV listing was a material consideration because it "reasonably demonstrates that there is a local demand for community facilities within the locality and in particular a demand that those facilities should be provided on the subject site".

“The treatment of ACVs as a material consideration is likely to become more and more commonplace,” said Mike Pocock, planning law expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.  "However, the fact is that the Localism Act introduced the ACV concept to give local communities a “right to bid” and not a right to thwart development.”

"The legislation was designed to be used positively by local communities to secure future community use of assets and not as a means of preventing development.  Ironically what local authorities and communities may achieve by affording ACVs the status of a material consideration is an empty building as the reality is that some buildings are simply not viable as community assets even where there maybe a local demand for community use.  If they were viable then presumably the communities would put forward a meaningful bid which is what the legislation actually envisaged,” Pocock added.

Marcus Bate, planning law expert at Pinsent Masons, said that the decision by Brent Council highlights the "inadequacy" of Government guidance and policy on the planning status of ACVs. 

"Leaving key matters open to variable local interpretation, guidance merely states that an ACV listing ‘may’ be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications, without indicating how much weight should ordinarily be given to it.  Following this decision, many local authorities are likely to assume that an ACV listing ‘will’ always be a material consideration and may feel entitled to place significant weight on that listing when refusing otherwise acceptable planning applications,” Bate added.