Anthony Crean QC and John Hunter, instructed by Eversheds to represent Robert Hitchins Ltd have successfully judicially reviewed Worcestershire Council in relation to WTS payments.
The issue in the claim was whether RHL were obligated under a section 106 agreement, entered into them by agreement, to pay an amount per dwelling within a proposed development as a contribution towards the Worcester Transport Strategy survived the grant of planning permission by the Secretary of State on a second application – identical to the first, save for that particular section 106 obligation – and the steps said to have been taken to implement that second permission.
Mr Justice Hickinbottom, sitting in the Birmingham Administrative Court allowed the Judical Review and made a declaration in the terms sought during the course of the hearing:
The Claimant and any subsequent owners of the Site cannot lawfully be required to pay further instalments of the Worcester Transport Strategy contribution under the First Section 106 Agreement having, upon the grant of reserved matters for the Second Planning Permission, elected to carry out development pursuant to the Second Planning Permission rather than the First Planning Permission.
