Saunders, R (on the application of) v Tendring District Council & Anor

When an outline planning permission leaves the number of dwellings unrestricted, a local planning authority may control density at the reserved-matters stage through design, siting and landscaping decisions. It may consider effects on adjoining land uses, including evacuation risks and harm to neighbouring amenity.

Material objections previously advanced by the authority must be fairly and accurately placed before the decision-makers. A report which omits or materially obscures those objections may make the decision unlawful. Legal advice may be considered in private where permitted, but substantive planning reasons and the officers’ response must be addressed openly so that interested persons can make effective representations.

The claimant sought judicial review of the council’s decisions approving details for 77 dwellings on one site and granting planning permission for associated parking, open space and a pumping station on adjoining land.

The council had previously refused permission, relying on the scale of the development, risks associated with a nearby hazardous installation and the environmental capacity of adjoining roads. It later approved substantially the same proposals after reports failed to set out or address those objections adequately. The central issues were whether the earlier objections remained material at the reserved-matters stage and whether the decision-making process was procedurally fair.

1. The decisions were quashed. The council’s earlier safety and evacuation objections, and its environmental-capacity objection, were material considerations which the committee was required to take into account.
2. The outline permissions were bare permissions. They specified no upper or lower limit on the number of dwellings. Accordingly, the council could control the number of dwellings through the approval of details, including by controlling design, siting and landscaping.