Council stand by Sainsbury decision despite questioning lawyer's advice on NHS

I got a reply from Redbridge Council where I asked for the planning committee that made their decision passing the Ilford Sainsburys to be re-run because the borough lawyer wrongly advised councillors that the NHS was not an issue per the video below:

I quote from the Council reply below where they stand by their decision despite their lawyer giving me misleading to Councillors.

"On the issue of the Impact on the NHS, I would like to clarify that the impact on healthcare facilities is a material consideration and was considered in determining the application.

It was understood by the Chair that comments at committee concerned the general state of the

NHS at a national level and how new developments place additional pressure on the NHS by increasing

demand for services. Given the general nature of comments it was considered that the matter did not fairly and reasonably relate to the development for which permission was sought to as to constitute a material consideration which the LPA was entitled to take into account.

Furthermore, planning legislation does not confer any general power on local authorities to raise revenue for public purposes and only in circumstances where a development would itself cause direct harm to a public facility could the Council require the developer to mitigate harm (see paragraphs 139 -141 of R (on the application of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust) v Harborough District Council v Leicestershire County Council, Hadraj Limited [2023] EWHC 263 (Admin)).

Direct impacts of the development on local services and infrastructure including those relating to healthcare are addressed by the Council through the collection of CIL payments as health is listed in the Council’s CIL 123 list which is set out an Appendix to the Council’s Planning Obligations SPD.

Overall, the Council considers that the decision that the Planning Committee made was sound and there is no reason for the meeting to be re-run. If you disagree with this, please seek your own legal advice. Therefore, I do not uphold your complaint on the points raised.

This response covers Stage one of the Council’s complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied and wish to take the matter forward, you many proceed to the second and final stage specifying how I have not addressed your complaint in full in this response. To do this you should write to Operational Director Planning and Building Control at within one month of the date of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Development Management Manager"

The full text is below, I will be appealing and will provide an update in due course.