Supreme Court to hear appeal next week over standing orders and committee voting in planning dispute

The background to the case of R (on the application of The Spitalfields Historic Building Trust) (Appellant) v London Borough of Tower Hamlets and another (Respondents) is that Old Truman Brewery Ltd., the second respondent, applied for planning permission to redevelop an old brewery in Spitalfields.

The application came before the Development Committee of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council at a meeting on 27 April 2021. Five members of the committee were present. The committee voted unanimously to defer consideration of the proposal.

The committee next considered the planning application at its meeting on 14 September 2021. By that point, the composition of the committee had changed since the 27 April 2021 meeting.

The council's standing orders provided that where a planning application is deferred and its consideration recommences at a subsequent meeting, only members present at the previous meeting will be able to vote on the application.

In accordance with that rule, it was announced at the beginning of the 14 September 2021 meeting that only councillors who were present at the meeting on 27 April 2021 could vote on the planning application.

The committee resolved to grant planning permission by a vote of two to one.

The appellant, The Spitalfields Historic Building Trust, applied for judicial review of the decision on the ground that it had been unlawful to exclude committee members from voting at the September meeting if they had not been present at the April meeting.

The High Court refused the application.

The appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal, which in The Spitalfields Historic Building Trust, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough Of Tower Hamlets [2023] EWCA Civ 917 dismissed the appeal last July.

The Spitalfields Historic Building Trust subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court panel hearing the case is expected to comprise Lord Reed, Lord Sales, Lord Hamblen, Lady Rose and Lord Richards.

See also: The power to regulate proceedings and place restrictions on councillor voting - Philip McCourt’s analysis of the Court of Appeal case.