Details revealed as two legal challenges to Local Development Plan launched

A “statutory appeal case” has been launched in the planning court plus a separate case in the Court Appeal against the vote to adopt Wrexham’s controversial Local Development Plan in December 2023, organisers of the recent crowdjustice funder have revealed.

Technical details of the, what appears to be two legal challenges, emerged via a statement from the group behind the recent fundraiser which had been shared widely among local councillors – and referenced in an Executive Board meeting by an opposition leader.

In the statement new details on what the legal challenges are have been detailed,  “These legal actions have been launched against Wrexham Council and the Welsh Government and also names the seven developers who took legal action to quash previous votes at full council, where a majority of councillors voted against adoption on two different occasions. At the heart of these cases is a challenge to the claim by Wrexham officers that local councillors in Wales unlike in England have a ‘legal duty’ to adopt the LDP.

“However there is no legal basis to suggest that Parliament intended for Local Planning Authorities in England to have a discretion not to adopt under section 23 of the 2004 Act, but that LPA in Wales no discretion under section 67 of the 2004 Act. That such an anomaly would exist between England and Welsh plan-making rights gives rise to great concerns for democracy in Wales and is the reason the case was brought to clarify the rights of local councillors when exercising their democratic voice.”

The statement added, “Under the rule of law, there is a process to be followed to set aside the plan adoption. We’ve been advised that the next step in this process is to apply to the planning court and to the court of appeal and these case are now pending in the courts. Our argument is that a case could (and should) have been made on behalf of the full council, and its elected councillors, that we did indeed have the discretion in law to reject the plan in April and June 2023. Adoption of the flawed plan was not ‘mandatory’ as claimed by the other parties.

“We are also concerned that the council did not even attend the court hearing in the developers’ case held in Cardiff on November 29th and had in fact conceded the case in court papers while telling members the opposite: that the council had not conceded the case.

“The result of the Council’s lack of defence and then non-appearance was that the court only heard arguments from the developers’ and the upshot was a £100,000 costs order against the council. A successful appeal could spare this magnitude of costs.”

Organisers pointed to the recent crowdfunder that raised over £7000, “The legal appeal is funded by individual councillors and many, many local residents, who have expressed their concerns about the democratic voice being stifled by developers, the Welsh Government and council officers”

Adding, “We ask residents to ensure that this case progresses, and democracy is defended, by contributing whatever you can to our CrowdJustice fundraiser, which can be found here”

Wrexham Council again would not answer questions on the matter, reiterating their ‘no comment’ response from our story yesterday. Our query included asking if the council were aware of the appeal, and if so, would councillors be informed, and if costs would now be incurred.

Yesterday we reported how the First Minister appeared aware of the situation, saying, “…I hoped, now, that sorry story had been put to bed and that, finally, the local authority was complying with its legal obligations under the direction of the High Court. ‌​‌‌​​​‌‍‌​‌​‌‌‌​‍‌​​​‌​‌‌‍‌​​​‌‌​‌‍‌​​‌‌‌‌​‍‌​​‌‌‌​​‍‌​​‌​‌​​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​​‌‌​‌​‍‌​​‌‌‌​​‍‌‌​​‌‌​‌‍‌‌​​‌‌​​

“It’s a great shame to me to learn that there is yet further uncertainty now being introduced into that picture”.