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Room 106

Ep226: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Season 2026, Ep. 226
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The latest edition of our monthly series examining the key recent appeal and court decisions, in which we speak to technical editor David Dewar, who compiles Planning’s long-running Casebook section.


This month, we’ll be discussing:


  • An inspector citing a key new policy in the updated National Planning Policy Framework, one day after the document was published, in assessing a housing proposal in Essex.
  • A secretary of state call-in decision on a huge scheme featuring 3,500 homes and a football stadium that is notable for economic development being a clinching factor in its refusal.
  • The High Court finding that a planning committee had been given a false impression due to background papers on biodiversity net gain not being disclosed.
  • How inspectors are testing a national policy that allows neighbourhood plans to disapply the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
  • An appeal inspector anticipating "impulsive and unpredictable noises" from people using a proposed commercial “sauna to ice bath” operation in a residential area.


More information on all these cases can be found in the September edition of Casebook on Planning Resource.


Key planning news, and why it’s important, brought to you by the team behind Planning magazine, the leading source of independent intelligence for planning professionals for more than 50 years.


Find the latest planning news at planningresource.co.uk and @planningMag


Room 106 was the Professional Publishers Association’s Podcast of the Year 2023/24. It was also highly commended in the Best Use of Audio category in the Association of Online Publishers’ Digital Publishing Awards 2024.

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