Decision by Secretary of State to reject conclusions of inspector and refuse permission for 165-home scheme quashed

A decision by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to refuse an application for 165 homes in Kent on environmental grounds has been formally quashed without the threatened statutory review.

Landmark Chambers, whose barristers James Maurici KC and Nick Grant represented developer Berkeley Homes, said Michael Gove’s decision “has now been quashed by consent” and would return to the Secretary of State to reconsider.

The case was unusual in that the minister disagreed with the conclusions of a planning inspector’s report and refused permission on grounds of harm to an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council gave permission in January 2021, but Gove called-in the decision for the inspector to examine, who supported the scheme only for the Secretary of State to intervene.

Berkeley said then it would pursue a statutory review against the Secretary of State’s decision, which had come despite the inspector having considered the scheme “not only an acceptable development but a good development".

Mark Smulian