Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Planning, Regeneration and Development. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning.]  The Cabinet will be asked to  agree that  the Cabinet resolution made at the 15th July 2014 Cabinet  (Seven Sisters Regeneration, Tottenham – Apex House & Wards Corner) to approve the appropriation of the Apex House site for planning purposes is intended to attract the application not only of Section 237 Town and Country Planning Act 1990, but also any replacement, whether Clause 179  of the Housing and Planning Bill (as enacted) or otherwise.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning introduced the report which was presented solely to ensure that decisions previously taken by Cabinet were upheld in light of the Housing and Planning Bill becoming an Act of Parliament (law). Members were asked to support the recommendation in the report to safeguard the progression of the Apex House redevelopment against any legal impediments that might be caused by the replacement of this clause with a similar provision.

RESOLVED

That its resolution made at the 15^th July 2014 Cabinet meeting (Seven Sisters Regeneration, Tottenham – Apex House & Wards Corner Report) to approve the appropriation of the Apex House site for planning purposes, pursuant to Section 122 Local Government Act 1972 and subject to the powers provided by Section 237 Town and Country Planning Act 1990, is intended to attract the application not only of Section 237, but also the  replacement provisions contained in Section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

Reasons for decision

The reason for the recommendation is that the Housing and Planning Bill has been progressing through Parliament and received Royal Assent on the 12^th May 2016. The new Act contains Section 203 and will repeal Section 237.

The new section also applies “where—

(a)       there is planning consent for the building or maintenance work,

(b         the work is carried out on other qualifying land,

(c)        the qualifying authority in relation to the land could acquire the land compulsorily for the purposes of the building or maintenance work, and

(d)       the building or maintenance work is for purposes related to the

purposes for which the land was vested in, or acquired or appropriated

by, the qualifying authority in relation to the land” and therefore should capture appropriation of land that occurred prior to coming into force of the new Act.

It was felt however that the Council should in any event resolve that its resolutions under Sections 122 of the Local Government Act 1972 to appropriate and to dispose under Section 233 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 are intended to attract the application not only of Section 237 but also its replacement under Section 203. Similar decisions have been made in other recent cases in Haringey, for example in the case of Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium redevelopment and Olympia Trading Estate.

Alternative options considered

The alternative option to consider would be not to resolve that the Cabinet’s original decision of the 15^th July 2014 to appropriate the land for the Apex House site is intended to attract the application not only of Section 237, but also the replacement provision under Section 203  of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 .

This could lead to uncertainty over the Council’s intentions, given the changes to the legislation and it has been advised by legal counsel in other similar cases in Haringey to clarify the Council’s position on the issue. There would be an increased risk of challenge through judicial review process if the recommended resolution is not made, on the basis that the Cabinet’s intention on the 15^th July 2014 was that only Section 237 should apply and this has now been repealed.