MALDON District Council will not have to pay £84,685 costs incurred by the examination of its failed local development plan.
The costs are highly significant for a relatively small local authority, particularly in the context of ongoing cuts to local government expenditure being required.
In due course, the council will also be required to meet costs associated with the ‘call-in’ of the LDP by the Secretary of State.
In August 2015, the council wrote to the Planning Inspectorate requesting that the costs are ‘written-off’ on the basis that the council “has not got what it paid for”.
The council received formal notification on Thursday from the Planning Inspectorate that the council “will not be invoiced for the work undertaken by the appointed inspector in the examination of the plan.”
They confirm that they “accept that the procedural handling of the examination fell somewhat short of the service that they would normally seek to deliver.”
The entire sums of £84,685.97 for examiner costs have been written-off by The Planning Inspectorate.
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