Epiphany House in Merstham, Reigate

A local congregation hoped to purchase a derelict church and bring it back into use. However, an application had been made to demolish it and erect 10 houses. The decision was quashed because documents required to comply with council policy on disposal of community assets had not been published before granting planning permission.

This was a successful challenge to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the demolition of a church and development of 10 houses. The challenge was brought by the UK Gospel Assembly Church, which had been attempting to purchase the building to use as their church. The Council’s policy on the loss of community assets such as churches required that they be advertised at a fair market price for 6 months prior to planning permission being granted that would result in their loss as a community asset. The Council were initially not satisfied that the church had been advertised at a fair market price and asked the applicant to provide further information. This information was not published on the Council’s planning register or provided to the UK Gospel Assembly Church before the Council decided to grant planning permission. The ground of challenge was that the Council’s failure to publish the further information from the Applicant was contrary to s.100D of the Local Government Act 1972, which requires that background papers be published by the Council, because the further information was relied on by the planning officer in coming to their decision to grant permission. The Council agreed to consent to the quashing of the decision on that basis.