Leeds City Council has lost a High Court battle to stop the development of greenfield sites in the city.

The council had objected to a planning inspector’s decision last October to grant outline consent for homes to the south east of Yeadon. It had earlier refused permission for the scheme on the grounds that there was enough brownfield land in the city to meet projected housing demand.

The council had previously challenged to two other inspectors' decisions to allow housing development of greenfield land. It argued that building on Greenfield sites could jeopardise the regeneration of urban areas.  However judge Mr Justice Keith dismissed claims that the inspector had ignored the council's concerns.

The site had been identified as suitable for new housing in the Unitary Development Plan and the judge said he could find no fault in the inspector's conclusion that the number of new homes likely to become available "was significantly less than were needed to meet demand".
 
The council's lawyers argued there were likely to be enough brownfield sites in the city to meet projected demand for 20,570 new homes between 2009 and 2014 and so there was no need to free up greenfield sites for development.  However, the inspector took the view that only 17,950 new homes were likely to become available over that period, leaving a deficit of almost 3,000 and the potential for a housing shortage.