Council 'taking itself to court' in bizarre move over housing

AUTHORITY APPLIES TO QUASH DECISION, BUT PLAN COULD STILL GO AHEAD

- WILLIAM TELFORD

PLYMOUTH City Council wants to quash its own decision to allow houses to be built on one of the last green spaces on a huge housing estate. Opponents of plans to build on Wilmot Gardens, in Crownhill, said the authority is effectively "taking itself to court" after it admitted grounds in a legal challenge.

Last month, lawyers wrote to the council setting out grounds for a proposed claim for a judicial review of its decision to allow five "affordable" houses to be built on the green space. In a sensational twist the council has now accepted one of these grounds and will apply to the courts to quash its own planning consent. But the authority still plans to resubmit the proposals for approval.

It has left protesters delighted but with reservations. The challenge was submitted by London law firm Goodenough Ring Solicitors on behalf of claimant Frank Hartkopf, a Plymouth resident and Green Party campaigner for the Honicknowle ward. He said: "The council intends to go to court against themselves. It looks pretty bad."

Mr Hartkopf said he was "very pleased" that the decision was to be quashed and that opponents of the scheme had "cautiously celebrated". But he said: "We are awaiting confirmation that it has definitely been filed."

And he added: "They can revive planning permission without it going to the planning committee, but we hope it will be called in and go to the committee as it is in the public interest that it is debated again."