Leeds City Council has got itself into serious difficulties by not being able to trace any lawful authority for the delegation of thousands of planning decisions to case officers. I wonder if this has worried any other local authorities or whether others are confident that they have got their documentation in order.
An objector has challenged one grant of permission in the High Court and the legal costs alone are said to amount to a six figure number. More worryingly, if the Council loses, all affected decisions will be invalid - and no doubt that will cause an administrative nightmare.
Whilst I am not aware that there is any indication that the challenge raises questions of deliberate foul play, it does highlight the need to ensure that all internal authorisation procedures are correctly in place.
Interestingly, the High Court has also made a protective costs order for this challenge, indicating a fairly high degree of public interest in dealing with the matter.
The substantive hearing is listed for late October - we'll be keeping an eye out for the judgment...
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