(on the application of Delaney) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Queen’s Bench Division (Administrative Court), 24 February 2010
Subject: Planning
Where Reported: [2010] EWHC 1437 (Admin); Official Transcript
Documents: Case Analysis Official Transcript
Terms in Context:
…second respondent, in this application. That enforcement notice alleged a breach of planning control without planning permission, having changed the use of land from agriculture to stationing of residential caravans, other vehicles, static mobile homes and portable toilets, together with ancillary excavation, engineering and other building works for the alteration and construction of accesses, drives …
…and his extended family purchased and occupied the land as their home without having obtained planning permission to change the use from agricultural to being used for the purpose of residential caravans. The claimant brought an appeal against the enforcement notice, which was dismissed by the …
…for the gas.Two substantive solutions to this problem were proposed by the claimant. One was that the caravans and mobile home on the site, would be located on concrete slabs which would include a gas-proof membrane. It was agreed between …
…such a barrier could provide a satisfactory level of protection from methane emissions for the occupiers of any caravans or mobile homes and he recalls that the inspector could see no reason to disagree with the planned view. However, he was not was entirely justified in taking the view that the correct course for any application requiring such a fundamental change of use as would give rise, it was agreed by all, to a serious risk of danger by the explosion of gas, was that no such application for permission for change of use should be countenanced until and unless that risk had been properly assessed and the planning authorities had been presented with…
92.
Buckley v United Kingdom (20348/92) European Court of Human Rights, 25 September 1996
Subject: Planning
Keywords: Gypsies
Where Reported: (1997) 23 E.H.R.R. 101; [1997] 2 P.L.R. 10; [1996] J.P.L. 1018; Times, October 9, 1996; Independent, October 10, 1996
Documents: Case Analysis (1997) 23 E.H.R.R. 101
Terms in Context:
…para. 16 above. no longer applied. With regard to the first question, the Inspector found that the applicant had a mobile home, three touring caravans and three sheds on her site. These were hidden from the road by the caravans on the sites in front and by an agricultural engineering business, the same depth as the applicant’s site to the east. They were visible from other vantage points but could be adequately screened by planting hedges. However, she concluded that the continued use of the rear plots considerably extends the depth of development south of the road. This intensification of use in itself inevitably detracts from the rural appearance and generally open character of the area, contrary to the objectives of …
…development plan in South Cambridgeshire restricts development in the countryside to that essential to the efficient operation of particular rural uses, such as horticulture, agriculture and forestry. 31. The 1990 Act provides for an appeal to the Secretary of State in the event of a …
…However: As with other planning applications, proposals for gypsy sites should continue to be determined solely in relation to land-use factors. Whilst gypsy sites might be acceptable in some rural locations, the granting of permission must be consistent with agricultural, archaeological, countryside, environmental, and Green Belt policies … 114 PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION 44. In her application App. No. 20348/92 …
…the lack of viable alternatives if she leaves. She is unable to afford the expense of buying into a private mobile home site and she alleges that the official site nearby is not practicable due to the overcrowding and disorder to which …
…the applicant. This type of privately owned site does not cater for gypsies and occupants are required to purchase a mobile home on the site. 80. While reference was made by the planning inspector to the possibility of the applicant moving to…
93.
Holdom v Kidd Court of Appeal (Civil Division), 19 October 1990
Subject: Planning; Civil procedure
Keywords: Caravans; Discharge; Gypsies; Restrictive covenants
Where Reported: (1991) 61 P. & C.R. 456; [1991] 02 E.G. 163; [1990] E.G. 123 (C.S.)
Documents: Case Analysis (1991) 61 P. & C.R. 456
Terms in Context:
…October 1990Dillon, L.J. Dillon LJ (c)Sweet & Maxwell Limited Planning Civil procedure Restrictive covenants Caravans Gypsies Discharge Restrictive covenant for agricultural purposes occupation of land by residential gypsy caravans interlocutory injunction application for planning permission pending application for discharge of covenant …
…D for planning permission and their intention, if successful, to apply to discharge the covenant. A restrictive covenant provided that agricultural land acquired by D was to be used for agricultural purposes only, and that residential buildings should not be erected on it. In due course D placed on the land a number of concrete slabs for mobile homes or caravans belonging to gypsies, and allowed some 17 such caravans to occupy the land. When P sought an interlocutory…
94.
Runnymede BC v Harwood Court of Appeal (Civil Division), 7 February 1994
Subject: Planning
Keywords: Breach; Interlocutory injunctions; Planning control
Where Reported: 92 L.G.R. 561; (1994) 6 Admin. L.R. 697; (1994) 68 P. & C.R. 300; [1994] 1 P.L.R. 22; (1995) 159 L.G. Rev. 345; [1994] E.G. 23 (C.S.); (1994) 91(14) L.S.G. 48; (1994) 138 S.J.L.B. 59; Times, February 22, 1994
Documents: Case Analysis (1994) 68 P. & C.R. 300
Terms in Context:
…Surrey. It is green belt land within the area of the Runnymede Council, but for some years has not been used for agricultural purposes. In the summer of 1981 Mr Harwood, with the consent of the owner, moved into what has been variously described in the papers as a mobile home, or a converted wooden shack on the land in question, and began living there. Without prejudice to it’s erstwhile mobility …
…granting Mr Harwood personal planning permission for three years giving Mr Harwood an opportunity to demonstrate the viability of his use of the land in question as an agricultural holding.At the end of the three years it was clearly shown that the land was not viable as an agricultural holding. This is not now disputed. Nonetheless, on July 28, 1988, Mr Harwood applied for the renewal of the 1985 …
…will become a wild life sanctuary.The second application sought permission, again limited to five years, to convert a redundant agricultural building, the brick-built former stables and piggeries of Sycamore Farm, for residential purposes, that is so say as a …
…to move into occupation of Building Y,305 which is not relevant to this appeal “other than for purposes of agriculture”, and (d) retaining Building Z and/or continuing or causing or permitting any person to be in residential occupation of to Building X, the provisions of paragraph 16 in P.P.G. 2 of January 18, 1988, which is concerned with the use of redundant agricultural buildings in green belt areas, and also because Building X is of brick construction and is less likely to become…
95.
Journal Article
Subject: Agriculture; Planning
Keywords: Agricultural land; Mobile homes; Planning permission
Documents: Legal Journals Index Abstract
Terms in Context:
…LJI0000249917ESTATES GAZETTE CASE SUMMARIES 000000009911 Legal Journals Index 1072 Article – Journal Case Report Petter v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions Estates Gazette Case Summaries Agriculture Planning Agricultural land Mobile homes Planning permission Petter v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions [1998] E.G.C.S. 88 (QBD…
96.
Smarden Parish Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Queen’s Bench Division (Administrative Court), 30 March 2010
Subject: Planning
Keywords: Alternative sites; Change of use; Local authorities; Local development plans; Planning permission
Where Reported: [2010] EWHC 701 (Admin); Official Transcript
Documents: Case Analysis Official Transcript
Terms in Context:
…before coming to the 2009 decision.The 2006 Inspector records that the appeal site comprises 0.4 hectares of former agricultural land forming part of a larger field located in countryside to the southwest of the village of Smarden within the Low Weald Special Landscape Area (SLA). There is a small former agricultural building close to the site entrance, currently used for storage purposes by Mr Lawson, behind which is a gravelled area and concrete hard-standing where a mobile home was once sited. He records that planning permission is sought for the use of the land as quarters for Mr Lawson’s travelling circus. A maximum of four caravans would be positioned, as well …
…around the appeal site is nevertheless attractive and sensitive in landscape terms. It is characterised by relatively low lying open agricultural land and tall hedgerows. Removal of a substantial proportion of the roadside hedgerow would be required to accommodate the proposed …
…If permanent permission was granted, the Council said, there should be a permission made personal to Lawson’s Circus and the use limited to between the months of October and March.Discussion and conclusions on Ground 1 It is important, in my view, not to elide the concept of a permanent base used as winter quarters, and a permanent base used as such the year round. This application was not made on such an expansive basis. The material put before the 2009 Inspector, as Smarden submits, makes the limited use of the site clear. Furthermore, the 2006 and 2008 decisions both make plain that those appeals related to winter use, with only limited use for the rest of the year. The 2009 appeal was put by the appellant, and accepted by the Inspector, on …
…the important wildlife habitats it contains, and to respond to the need for carefully managed change to accommodate demands for agricultural diversification, tourism and public access to the countryside”. Plainly, policy GP12 goes to the heart of the prominence of the …
…well as a hard standing area for the siting of caravans, etc., the search was approached on the basis that agricultural pasture land was required for the grazing of animals. In this respect, I should note that (despite the criticisms that…
97.
Swale BC v First Secretary of State Court of Appeal (Civil Division), 17 November 2005
Subject: Planning
Keywords: Barn conversions; Enforcement notices; Lawful development certificates; Planning inspectors; Residential development
Where Reported: [2005] EWCA Civ 1568; [2006] J.P.L. 886; Official Transcript
Documents: Case Analysis Official Transcript
Terms in Context:
…Clarke Kiernan ) appeared on behalf of the Second Respondent. Judgment Lord Justice Keene: This appeal is concerned with the lawful use of a building located at the edge of the village of Newnham in Kent. The building itself has a somewhat chequered history. It seems originally to have been a barn used for agricultural storage and other storage, but over the years various works have been done to it including the incorporation into it of two mobile homes. It is, according to the Planning Inspector’s decision, a timber clad single storey building with a fixed roof. There are …
…barn, a Mr Bunce, moved to the site in 1998, living partly in the barn and partly in a freestanding mobile home. Between September 1998 and May 1999, Mr Lee was legally required to live at Maidstone but after May 1999 he lived at the site, sometimes in the barn, sometimes in the freestanding mobile home. The important passages in the decision which set out the Inspector’s findings and reasoning are as follows: “(21) Mr Lee …
…the site in 1996 but did not live in the building straight away. Indeed, for two or three years the mobile home on the site and the barn appeared to have provided residential accommodation for several people at various times, sometimes both being occupied and occasionally neither. This erratic pattern of use probably accounts for the various observations of the site recorded by the Council, and possibly the failure of the appellant’s agent to refer to residential use in planning applications and letters during this period. However, once initial repairs were carried out the barn appeared to have been fitted and available for residential use from then onwards. The Council acknowledges a residential use from 2000 to the present day. There is no substantial evidence that since Mr Colby’s occupation the barn was used for any purpose other than residential, except from time to time for minor storage connected with the use of the site as a whole. (22) I have taken into account Miss Champion’s evidence and the lack of reference to the residential use in some planning applications and correspondence. However, during part of the relevant period, the appellant had a difficult and complicated personal life and I accept that these factors affected both his use of the site and the control that he was able to apply to the work being carried out there. I …
…Council now contends that these passages show that the Inspector erred in law. He was wrong, it is said, to use the concept of abandonment of a use and he took into account immaterial considerations by using that concept and by relying on the fact that no other use had been introduced. Mr Findlay, on behalf of the appellant, emphasises what was said in the Thurrock case about abandonment being a concept relevant to already established use rights, not to whether there had been continuity of use. The same is true of whether or not an alternative use has been introduced. The only proper question, it is submitted, is whether the building was in continuous use for residential purposes throughout the period, so that the Council could have served an enforcement notice at any time during the four years. The Council argues that the judge below was wrong to distinguish the use in the Thurrock case, which was the use of land as an airfield, from the use of a building as a dwelling. In both cases, says Mr Findlay, there has to be activity for the use to exist. If there are long periods of absence from the building, no activity and hence no use is continuing. That was the case here, he submits. The mere presence of personal effects and the connection of services …
…rise to concern. The Inspector refers to there being no substantial evidence that during the critical period “the barn was used for any purpose other than residential”, apart from some minor storage. That, however, is not the test. A building may not be being used at certain times for any purpose at all. The fact that it is not put to some alternative use does not demonstrate that it was in residential use, which is the real issue. Likewise, the Inspector emphasises in paragraph 21 that once initial repairs had been carried out “the barn appears to have been fitted and available for residential use from then onwards”. That, I am bound to say is irrelevant. The decision-maker is required to consider not the building’s availability or suitability for residential use, but whether it was actually put to such use. Those factors to which I have just referred, relied on by the Inspector, have to be added to his reference to the absence of evidence of intention to abandon residential use. That causes me concern because a building may well not be in continuous use for residential purposes and yet the owner fully intends to resume occupation for such purposes at a future date. The…
98.
Chelmsford BC v Steers Queen’s Bench Division, 17 December 2003
Subject: Planning; Civil procedure
Keywords: Caravans; Green belt; Gypsies; Injunctions; Mobile homes; Planning control
Where Reported: [2003] EWHC 3395 (QB); Official Transcript
Documents: Case Analysis Official Transcript
Terms in Context:
…Chelmsford BCSteers CHELMSFORD BC V STEERS [2003] EWHC 3395 (QB) Official Transcript Chelmsford BC Steers TNS CHELMSFORD BC …
…United Kingdom17 December 2003 Fulford, J. Fulford, J (c)Sweet & Maxwell Limited Planning Civil procedure Caravans Green belt Gypsies Injunctions Mobile homes Planning control planning control injunctions gypsies’ caravans and mobile homes on agricultural land need to weigh protection of environment against hardship to family The local authority sought an injunction to prevent further breaches of planning control by S and his wife on their land, which was agricultural and lay in open countryside within a metropolitan green belt. S, a gypsy, had bought the plot after a previous owner’s application to build a dwelling there had been refused. S had then put mobile homes, caravans and sheds on the land and created a roadway and hard standing. S contended that the difficulties in finding …
…breaches of planning control, an injunction was the only effective relief.To access the full text of this judgment please use the link above. Summary material is being prepared and will be published as soon as possible. Held, granting the application…
99.
Temporary planning permission for mobile home – consideration of personal circumstances
Citation: Farm Law 1998, 36, 5
Subject: Planning
Keywords: Agricultural land; Mobile homes; Planning permission
Documents: Legal Journals Index Abstract
Terms in Context:
…LJI0000262616FARM LAW 000000369994 Legal Journals Index 1072 Article – Journal Case Comment Temporary planning permission for mobile home – consideration of personal circumstances. Farm Law 1998, 36, 5 Farm Law Planning Agricultural land Mobile homes Planning permission Whether planning inspector erred in refusing self sufficient couple permission for mobile home on agricultural land, and whether he failed to consider personal circumstances and effects of homelessness. Petter v Secretary of State for the…
100.
Caravan recognition
Citation: Tax. 2007, 160(4135), 599-600
Subject: Tax; Agriculture
Keywords: Capital allowances; Caravans; Farms; Mobile homes
Documents: Legal Journals Index Abstract
Terms in Context:
…LJI0000606261TAXATION 016041359400 Legal Journals Index 1072 Article – Journal Question and Answer Caravan recognition. Tax. 2007, 160(4135), 599-600 Taxation Tax Agriculture Capital allowances Caravans Farms Mobile homes Asks whether a farmer who bought mobile accommodation units instead of towable caravans to accommodate the farm workers could claim…
