Eric Pickles, the new secretary of state for local government and communities has decided not to call in the LCCC/Tesco planning application which includes a mega Tesco.

If you wrote to government office north west urging a call in then you will have received the following copy of a letter to Janet Callender Trafford Chief Executive Officer:

Dear Janet,

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (CONSULTATION) (ENGLAND) DIRECTION 2009
PART FULL/PART OUTLINE PLANNING APPLICATION FOR REDEVELOPMENT OF OLD TRAFFORD CRICKET GROUND AND ERECTION OF FOOD SUPERSTORE AT OLD TRAFFORD CRICKET GROUND AND LAND BETWEEN CHESTER ROAD AND TALBOT ROAD, OLD TRAFFORD (REF 74393/FULL/2009).

1.    I refer to your letter of 12 March 2010 referring to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, under the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2009, the planning application detailed above. On 31 March 2010 the Secretary of State directed under Article 14 of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995, that your Council should not grant planning permission on the application without specific authorisation. This Direction was issued to enable the Government Office to have further time in which to consider the application.

2.    As you know, the Secretary of State’s general approach is not to interfere with the jurisdiction of local planning authorities unless it is necessary to do so. Parliament has entrusted them with responsibility for day-to-day planning control in their areas. Local planning authorities are normally best placed to make decisions relating to their areas and it is right that, in general, they should be free to carry out their duties responsibly with the minimum of interference.

3.    There will be occasions, however, when the Secretary of State may consider it necessary to call in a planning application to determine it himself instead of leaving it to the local planning authority. His policy is to be very selective about calling in planning applications. He will, in general, only take this step if planning issues of more than local importance are involved and if those issues need to be decided by the Secretary of State rather than at a local level. Each case is, however, considered on its own facts.

4.    We have carefully considered all the matters raised regarding this application. The issue before the Secretary of State for decision is not whether the application should be granted planning permission but whether or not he should call it in for his own determination. In particular, in deciding whether or not this case raises issues which would justify a decision by him rather than the local planning authority, the Secretary of State considers that the main matters relevant to his decision are his policies with regard to:

• Economic development and regeneration benefits; the need for sequential assessment and impact assessment and consideration of planning applications for development for main town centre uses that are not in a centre and not in accordance with an up-to-date development plan ( PPS4: Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth);

• Delivering sustainable economic development, promoting high quality inclusive design which takes the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and takes climate change impacts into account (PPS1: Delivering Sustainable Development and PPS1Supplement: Planning and Climate Change);

• Promoting sustainable transport choices, accessibility by means of public transport, walking and cycling, reducing the need to travel by car and compliance with local car parking standards ( PPG 13: Transport);

•  Meeting the sport, open space and recreation requirements of the whole community by protecting existing facilities and securing appropriate new provision (PPG 17: Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation.

5.    Having carefully considered the relevant planning issues raised by this proposal, together with the representations received, and having regard to his policy on call in, the Secretary of State has concluded on balance that intervention would not be justified as there is not sufficient conflict with national planning policies on the above matters, or any other sufficient reason, to warrant calling in the application for his own determination. Although the Tesco proposals have generated considerable opposition locally and the proposals as a whole raised some planning issues of more than local importance, they have not given rise to national or substantial regional controversy. The Secretary of State has therefore decided that he should leave the decision on whether or not to grant planning permission in this case to the local planning authority.

6.    The Article 14 Direction issued pursuant to the Secretary of State's letter of 31 March 2010 is hereby withdrawn.

7.    In considering whether to exercise his discretion to call in this application, the Secretary of State has not considered the matter of whether this application is EIA Development for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999. The local planning authority responsible for determining this application remains the relevant authority responsible for considering whether these regulations apply to this proposed development and, if so, for ensuring that the requirements of the Regulations are complied with.

8.    A copy of this letter is being sent to Kate Green MP, John Leech MP and Sir Robert Atkins, MEP and to all those who made representations to Ministers and officials within the Government Office for the North West.

9.   A copy of the permission that may be granted by the Council for the development should be sent to the Secretary of State at the above address in due course.      

Yours sincerely,

Jo Lappin, Deputy Director
Housing, Planning & Transport
City Tower
Piccadilly Plaza
Manchester
M1 4BE

Tel: 0161 952 4005
Fax: 0161 952 4255
jo.lappin@gonw.gsi.gov.uk