Rory Walsh, R (on the application of) v Horsham District Council
| Court | King's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Judge | Mrs Justice Lang |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 2640 (Admin) |
| Date | 21 October 2024 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Counsel | Ben Fullbrook,Clare Parry |
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 2640 (Admin)
Case No: AC-2024-LON-000957
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING’S BENCH DIVISION
PLANNING COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 21 October 2024
Before :
MRS JUSTICE LANG DBE
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Between :
THE KING
on the application of
RORY WALSH
Claimant
- and -
HORSHAM DISTRICT COUNCIL Defendant
YMCA DOWNSLINK GROUP Interested Party
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Ben Fullbrook (instructed by Richard Buxton Solicitors) for the Claimant
Clare Parry (instructed by Horsham District Council Legal Services Department) for the
Defendant
The Interested Party did not appear and was not represented
Hearing date: 8 October 2024
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely at 10.30am on 21 October 2024 by circulation to
the parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives.
.............................
MRS JUSTICE LANG DBE
Judgment Approved by the court for handing down. R(Walsh) v Horsham DC and Anor
Mrs Justice Lang :
1. The Claimant seeks judicial review of the decision of the Defendant (“the Council”),
dated 31 February 2024, to grant planning permission to the Interested Party (“IP”)
for the conversion of its existing grass football pitch to an artificial 3G surface, with
new perimeter paths, fencing, floodlighting and goal storage area, at Horsham YMCA
Football Club, Gorings Mead, Horsham, West Sussex (“the Site”).
2. The Claimant lives near the Site and will be directly affected by the proposed
development. He has made representations to the Council opposing the grant of
permission.
3. The main issue in this claim is the deterioration and loss of a veteran ash tree as a
result of the proposed development. The Council’s Planning Committee North (“the
Committee”) resolved to grant planning permission contrary to the planning officers’
recommendation that the IP had failed to demonstrate “wholly exceptional reasons”
for the “loss or deterioration” of a veteran tree, as required by the National Planning
Policy Framework (December 2023) (“the Framework”), at 186(c)1.
4. On 3 May 2024, I granted the Claimant permission to apply for judicial review on
three grounds, namely:
i) The Council failed to give legally adequate reasons for its finding that the test
in the Framework, at 186(c), was met.
ii) The conditions attached to the permission failed to secure one or more
measures which the Council considered to be necessary.
iii) The Council’s decision to grant the permission was irrational.
5. Following the grant of permission, the Council filed evidence with its Detailed
Grounds of Resistance stating that the Council had entered into an agreement,
on 20 May 2024. It imposes additional obligations on the IP in order to address the
concerns which the Claimant had raised about deficiencies in the conditions attached
to the permission, in Ground 2 of the claim. Although the section 106 TCPA 1990
agreement does not provide equivalent protection to planning conditions, the
Claimant accepts that it is sufficient to render Ground 2 academic. Therefore Ground
2 is no longer pursued.
Planning history
6. The Site, which is approximately 3.5 acres in size, has been used for football since
1929. Existing facilities include a covered seated stand, a ground capacity for 1,575
people, a club house and changing facilities.
7. The site is bounded by mature trees across the south, west, and partially the northern,
boundaries of the Site. There are four trees (T3 and T4 oak trees and T5 and T6 ash
trees) on the southwestern boundary that are subject to a Tree Preservation Order.
1 In the preceding version of the Framework (September 2023), the relevant paragraph was 180(c).
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