56-day period CAN be extended – High Court

Like many other planning professionals, I was frankly non-plussed by the judgment in R (Warren Farm (Wokingham) Ltd) v Wokingham BC, for the reasons I explained in a blog post on 2 August last year.

Now, Holgate J has declined to follow that judgment in the High Court in delivering judgment in Gluck v SSHCLG [2020] EWHC 161 (Admin) last week, when he made a detailed and carefully reasoned analysis of the GPDO, applying well-established principles of statutory interpretation.

I have not had time yet to read the judgment in detail, but in view of its importance, I am publishing this note now to record the fact that Article 7 of the GPDO does permit the 56-period for determining a prior approval application under Part 3 to be extended by agreement between the applicant and the LPA, as we all thought it did before the Warren Farm case.

I hope to publish a post setting out details of the judgment in Gluck shortly.

© MARTIN H GOODALL