Community donation not material consideration for wind turbine planning permission (High Court)

In R (Wright) v Forest of Dean District Council and another [2016] EWHC 1349 (Admin), the High Court considered whether it was lawful for a local planning authority to take into account a local community donation when granting planning permission for a wind turbine. The Court of Appeal (CoA) has upheld the High Court’s decision. The CoA dismissed the appeals of the council and the developer, and held that the council acted unlawfully by taking account of a proposed “community donation” which was to be derived from the wind turbine’s turnover. The donation was not a material planning consideration (R (Wright) v Forest of Dean District Council Resilient Energy Serverndale Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 2102 (14 December 2017)). UPDATE: This case is the subject of an appeal to the Supreme Court, which will be heard on 22 and 23 July 2019.