<b></b>The House of Lords has overturned a ruling that the planning system breaches the Human Rights Act, allowing the environment secretary to continue to take decisions on high profile developments. The Lords found that decisions on planning merits are for politicians not courts and judicial review provides the necessary safeguards under the Human Rights Act. <br><b>The ruling will mean business as usual for government planning powers but there is still a right of appeal, within six months, to the European Court. </b><br><b>The Lords decision overturns a High Court ruling last December which looked set to disqualify the secretary of state from &amp;"calling in&amp;" and overruling local planning decisions. The court decided then that such government action would contravene the Human Rights Act by denying applicants the right to a fair public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal. </b><br><b>The High Court said that government was not independent and impartial when its own policy is at stake. It could not be both policy maker and decision taker. </b><br><b>This might have prevented the secretary of state from calling in applications to force compliance with PPG3 and from recovering appeals for his own determination. </b><br><b>The confirmation of government powers and of political decision …