Bewley Homes plc v The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities & Anor

Paragraph 81 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2021 does not require significant weight to be given to every economic benefit arising from every development proposal. The significant-weight direction applies to the general objective of supporting economic growth and productivity, having regard to local business needs and wider opportunities. The decision-maker must assess the nature and extent of the particular economic benefits and may then assign them the weight considered appropriate in the planning balance. The weight need not be uniform. A challenge based on the contrary interpretation fails unless the resulting assessment is irrational. An inspector is not required to address earlier appeal decisions which adopt that erroneous interpretation.

Bewley Homes plc sought statutory review under Town and County Planning Act 1990, s.288, of an inspector’s dismissal of its appeal against refusal of outline planning permission for up to 140 dwellings. The inspector accepted that the proposal would provide housing and affordable housing benefits, but gave only moderate weight to short-term construction benefits and longer-term local expenditure. He considered that paragraph 81 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2021 did not require greater weight because its principal focus was business investment, expansion and adaptation.

Bewley argued that paragraph 81 imposed a blanket requirement to give significant weight to all economic benefits and that the inspector had failed to explain his departure from earlier appeal decisions. The central issues were the proper interpretation of paragraph 81 and the consequences of that interpretation for the inspector’s reasons.

1. Claim dismissed. The inspector made no error of law in giving moderate weight to the identified economic benefits.
2. Paragraph 81 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2021 must be read in the context of paragraph 8 and chapter 6 as a whole. Its emphasis is on encouraging business and economic development and growth, including rural diversification, while taking account of local and regional circumstances.
3. The significant-weight direction concerns the general objective of supporting economic growth and productivity. It does not prescribe significant weight for the economic benefits of every development proposal. The decision-maker must first assess the nature and extent of the particular benefits and may then assign appropriate weight in the overall planning balance. That weight may be very substantial, moderate, minor or insignificant.
4. The policy does not require a uniform weighting irrespective of the scale, evidential basis or significance of the benefits. The claimant had provided only generalised evidence and no quantification of the economic benefits. Even on its alternative interpretation, the challenge could not succeed because the evidence did not enable that approach to be applied.
5. The inspector’s approach was not irrational. The earlier appeal decisions relied upon by Bewley adopted the incorrect interpretation of paragraph 81. Accordingly, the inspector was under no legal obligation to address them under the principle in North Wiltshire District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment.

First-instance statutory review under Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s.288. The claim challenged an inspector’s decision letter dated 19 May 2023 dismissing Bewley’s planning appeal.