Certificate for appeal refused in dispute over planning permission appeal rights

The High Court refused an application seeking a certificate for leave to appeal a decision rejecting an individual's request to appeal the grant of planning permission, despite that individual not participating in the original local authority process. The court found that while there was a procedural breach by the planning authority in assigning an inspector before jurisdiction was restored, this breach was deemed minimal and did not affect third-party rights or the substance of the decision. The refusal to grant the certificate was based on the conclusion that no point of law of exceptional public importance arose, nor was it desirable in the public interest to permit an appeal. The applicant’s arguments were further undermined by the fact that a third-party appeal on similar grounds was already ongoing and the applicant had already made submissions in that process.