Sue Roberts Fails in Bid to Overturn her Own South Oxfordshire Local Plan – and has to pay costs

Oxford Mail

A GRASSROOTS group, which took a district council in Oxfordshire to court over a hated housing plan, has had its application rejected.

South Oxfordshire District Council confirmed that The Honourable Mr Justice Dove has refused the application by Bioabundance CIC for permission to proceed with an application for judicial review against the council’s decision to adopt the highly-controversial Local Plan 2035, which sets out where 30,000 homes can be built in the area.

Even more, in refusing the application, the judge ordered Bioabundance, founded by South Oxfordshire district councillor Sue Roberts, to pay the council’s costs.

The company now has a week to ask for this decision to be overturned.

A spokesperson for the local authority commented: “We are pleased with this decision and that the court has supported the democratic decision making processes within the council.”

In January, Bioabundance challenged the South Oxfordshire Local Plan after the Government ordered the council to adopt it. The environmental group claimed the Local Plan failed to comply with the Climate Change Act 2008 because of the amount of homes planned for the district, with many set to be built on Green Belt land.