7. Challenging a Planning Decision in France

1. 7.1. Opportunity is Time Limited
2. 7.2. Recours Administratif
3. 7.3. Recours Contentieux
4. 7.4. Breach of Planning Consent

7.1. Opportunity is Time Limited

If you wish to contest a planning application or planning decision, then then you are going to need to be nimble on your feet.

Unfortunately, the process of considering most planning applications and challenging a consent is not as open in France as it is in the UK.

The only public information requirement is for the mairie to display a notice of the planning application outside of the town hall, within 15 days of receipt of the application.

However, if you do not happen to see the notice outside of the mairie, or you are not otherwise made aware of it, then you may know nothing about it until the contractors arrive on the site!

Needless to say, if it is a major development you are likely to read about it in the local press, and for certain industrial, agricultural and commercial developments, a public enquiry must be held.

It is possible to contest an actual planning approval (or refusal), although the chances of the decision being overturned are remote.

When a planning consent is granted the mairie should place a notice of consent outside the village/town hall, and the applicant is also obliged to place a notice on the site.

If there is a delay in erecting the notice, then the two-month period does not run until the date of the notice is displayed.

The mairie are also obliged to display the notice outside the town hall, but any delay by them to do so does not stop the clock running!

Responsibility for proving the notice has been displayed in accordance with the rules lies with the applicant.

A failure to properly display the notice does not provide you with grounds on which to oppose the planning consent. It merely permits you the opportunity to contest the application, for which you need to demonstrate that it does not comply with planning regulations.

The local mairie are legally obliged to provide you with access to the documentation relating to the planning consent to provide copies if you so request, for which a fee may be payable.

You might be surprised at the difficulties some people find in getting these documents from a local council. Accordingly, you may need to be persistent about the whole process. If there appears to be resistance, then send the request by recorded delivery letter, or engage professional assistance.

There are two formal procedures you can use to contesting a planning decision, either:

1. i. Recours Administratif, or
2. ii. Recours Contentieux .

These same procedures can also be used to oppose a local or regional plan.

In either case, in a country governed largely through protest, if you are opposing a local development, it pays to try and act on a collective basis with neighbours if they also have an interest in the matter.

Either way, you will need to get advice and assistance from an architect and/or an avocat specialising in planning law, as a detailed examination of planning rules will be required.

You will need to demonstrate that there has been non-compliance with the rules or procedures. You cannot contest on grounds of design, unless the regulations on design have been breached.

As there is often an absence of detailed planning rules, so it becomes more difficult to finds grounds on which the decision should be quashed!

Neither can you contest the decision merely because the new development has an adverse impact on the value of your own property. Similarly, you would not be able to contest a planning approval merely on the grounds that it spoilt a view you enjoyed from your property. It would need to have a wider adverse environmental impact.

Nevertheless, even if planning consent was obtained and your neighbour is acting in accordance with the consent, then, separately from your rights under planning law, you still have the right to bring a civil action if the development or activity is causing a 'nuisance'. You will need to prove that the nuisance is 'excessive' and 'abnormal' and that, as a result, it has caused you harm.