Costs awards Q & A DCP Section 6.1

As established in R. v Kensington & Chelsea LB 1991, the risk of a costs award after a planning, enforcement or other specialist appeal to the Secretary of State is a material consideration in a planning authority's determination of an application or in its decision on certain other planning actions, such as instigating enforcement proceedings, and this factor has become an important restraint on development management practice. This restraint also extends to the actions of developers and third parties, so increasing the discipline of all who engage in the planning process by penalising 'unreasonable behaviour'. Although costs orders made by the courts following judicial review and statutory challenges are touched on briefly in this section, detailed consideration of these provisions is beyond the scope of this manual.