The High Court has decided that climate change amounts to a material consideration for the purposes of a planning application. 

In granting the planning permission, Medway Council had considered that the protection of solar panels from overshadowing by a neighbouring development was a private, rather than public interest. 

However the High Court considered that the Local Plan and NPPF both promoted the use of renewable energy schemes to combat climate change. It was therefore a material consideration, and the decision to grant planning permission was quashed.