Clark intervenes in Essex local plan as inspector suggests withdrawal of plan for Warwick

Planning inspector David Vickery wrote to Maldon District Council last month to provide his interim findings on the examination of the Maldon District local development plan. Vickery said that the Council's proposed policy on provision for travellers was unsound and could not be rectified by suspending examination or by recommending modifications to the plan.

Following a request from Fiona Marshall, the chief executive of Maldon District Council, Clark wrote to the Council last week (1-page / 211 KB PDF) to say that he was making the direction in order "to test whether the inspector has reached a proportionate and balanced view on the local plan as a whole in the light of national planning policy".

The direction means Clark will now directly consider two local plans after previous communities secretary Eric Pickles directed North Somerset Council to submit its draft development policy to him for approval in April.

Planning expert Jennifer Holgate of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said:" It is very interesting to see that Greg Clark has quickly utilised what was previously a rarely used power of reviewing an emerging local plan. The new government will clearly want to see an increase in the number of local plans being adopted across England and Wales and it may be the communities secretary's strategy going forward to utilise this power more readily, rather than detrimentally delay the progress of a development plan document."

"Previous councils have utilised the main modification procedure in order to allow for a further review and compilation of evidence post adoption of the local plan, a position supported by Mr Justice Lindblom in the High Court," said Holgate. "It may be that this process could assist councils going forward and allow a plan to be found sound, subject to such future modifications."

Earlier this month, planning inspector Kevin Ward wrote to Warwick District Council (WDC) (9-page / 168 KB PDF) to say that he would not be able to recommend adoption of its local plan because it was "not sound in terms of overall housing provision and the supply and delivery of housing land".

Ward said WDC had "submitted a plan in the absence of a clear strategy to meet the objectively assessed need [for housing] for the housing market area" and that the draft plan was not likely to provide for a five year supply of housing "until at least 2017/18". He found that "in relation to the supply and delivery of housing land, the local plan is not positively prepared, justified, effective or consistent with national policy".

The inspector said that the timetable necessary to carry out the additional work required "would put it well beyond a reasonable period of suspension". He said WDC could choose to receive his report, which would recommend non-adoption of the plan, or to withdraw the plan from examination.