North Northamptonshire Council to pay NHS trust over 'unreasonable behaviour' in old Rushden Hospital site planning appeal
A council has been ordered to pay legal costs to an NHS Trust over a planning appeal for housing at a former Northamptonshire hospital site.
The planning inspectorate ruled that North Northants Council’s (NNC) lack of action on plans for homes at the former Rushden Hospital site was ‘unreasonable’ and caused the Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust ‘wasted expense’.
The trust lodged an appeal in July last year after the council failed to make a decision on its plans for 22 homes on vacant land off Catlin Way.
Though the appellant won its claim for costs, the planning inspector ultimately turned down the housing plans.
The site was initially allocated for an NHS resource centre, open space and parking in 2012 but was never brought forward.
The surrounding area is made up of residential homes, the Parklands Surgery and other NHS healthcare buildings. Revised plans were submitted by the Northants NHS Trust in 2022 to repurpose the empty land for further homes.
According to NNC’s website, 81 objections to the plans were submitted by members of the public over potential overdevelopment of the area, the proximity of the development to South End Infant School and loss of green space.
The planning inspector noted that, though NNC did not make a formal decision on the plans prior to the appeal, it later confirmed in writing that it was supportive of the physical proposals.
However, the authority deemed the section 106 agreements, which detail the developer’s contributions to the area, insufficient and could not approve the project.
Some of the pitfalls, according to the planning inspector, included a lack of clarity on how many affordable homes would be delivered and concerns about the biodiversity net gain for the area. They concluded that the housing plans were in conflict with the council’s requirements and should be refused.
The inspector did allow the NHS trust’s application for costs, stating that there were delays in the council processing the planning application.
NNC originally told the applicant that a decision on the homes would be made at committee meeting in February 2024, but never issued one.
The appeal document stated: “There is no substantive evidence before me to indicate why the planning application was either not determined or discussed at the committee."
It concluded that the applicant suffered ‘unnecessary expense’ on taking the plans to appeal due to ‘unreasonable behaviour’ from NNC.
A spokesman for North Northamptonshire Council said: “The appeal was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate on the grounds that there wasn’t an appropriate mechanism by which to secure an adequate provision of affordable housing, an appropriate contribution towards measures to reduce car use, and a biodiversity net gain as part of the proposed development.
“These matters are complex and required careful consideration and consultation with a number of different parties, and regrettably, the council was unable to satisfactorily conclude on these matters prior to the submission of the appeal.”