The appellant appealed a refusal of a lawful development certificate for non-compliance with an agricultural occupancy condition. It had been originally required to be used for occupation by an agricultural worker, but was occupied in breach of that condition for several years. The breach had ceased by the time the certificate was applied for. At … Continue reading Nicholson v The Secretary Of State For The Environment and Maldon District Council: Admn 14 Aug 1997
The section at issue imposed a duty upon a tribunal to which the Act applies or any minister who makes a decision after the holding of a statutory inquiry to give reasons for their decision, if requested. A record of the reasons for a decision must meet the requirement that reasons must be adequate to … Continue reading Re Poyser and Mills’ Arbitration: 1963
The department complained that the defendants had entered into a transaction with their farm at an undervalue so as to defeat its claim for recovery of sums due. The transaction used the grant of a tenancy by the first chargee. Held: The farmers’ appeal as to the farm transaction failed: ‘beyond argument that DEFRA was … Continue reading Feakins and Another v Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Civ 1513): CA 9 Dec 2005
The Council had granted planning pemission for four blocks of student accomodation. The Executive objected that it had not dealt properly with the issue the proximity of a liquified petroleum gas storage depot. Held: Though there had been some confusion as to the need to revoke all or part only of the consent, the council’s … Continue reading The Health and Safety Executive v Wolverhampton City Council and Victoria Hall Ltd: CA 30 Jul 2010
The claimant sought to have development stopped on a site which it said was too near a site for the storage of liquid petroleum gas. Held: Collins J allowed the claim and granted declaratory relief that Wolverhampton had failed to: (i) notify the HSE that it was minded to grant permission; (ii) notify the HSE … Continue reading Health and Safety Executive v Wolverhampton City Council and Another: Admn 5 Nov 2009
When considering the revocation or modification of a planning consent, any impact on an interested party is a relevant consideration. A planning permission should not have been granted closing a public road without considering its adverse effect on the business of traders relying on it. In the absence of a stopping-up or diversion order, the … Continue reading Vasiliou v Secretary of State for Transport: CA 1991
The Council appealed a decision of the Assembly extending time for compliance with an enforcement notice from two months to two years. They believed that an error of law had occurred insofar as a 1973 permission had expired. The only works undertaken within the initial five year period were of demolition. The Act as it … Continue reading Ceredigion County Council v National Assembly for Wales, and E D Harrison: Admn 21 Sep 2001
When a mineral planning authority set conditions on the continued operation of a quarry which had been operating since pre-1947, that decision was a development consent, and it required to be supported by an environmental impact assessment, since it had significant environmental effects. The purpose of the Directive is ‘to ensure that planning permissions which … Continue reading Regina v North Yorkshire County Council, ex parte Brown and Another: HL 12 Feb 1999
The court looked at the inference that a statute’s draughtsman could be assumed when using a phrase to rely on a known interpretation of that phrase.Viscount Buckmaster said: ‘It has long been a well established principle to be applied in the consideration of Acts of Parliament that where a word of doubtful meaning has received … Continue reading Barras v Aberdeen Steam Trawling and Fishing Co: HL 17 Mar 1933
The applicants were farmers. Their cattle were destroyed after contracting foot and mouth disease. Their land was used for the burning of the carcasses of their animals, and of animals from neighbouring farms. They were compensated inter alia for the use of their land for burning the carcasses of their neighbours, but not their own … Continue reading Dixon and Another, Regina (on the application of ) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: QBD 10 Apr 2002
A mining permission, allowing extraction of gravels, had been given the wrong date for its termination. Under the original Act, the permission would expire in 2042. In stating the terms for the licence, the mineral planning authority had mistakenly set the date at 2001. No appeal had then been made. Held: The council had had … Continue reading Earthline Limited v Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions and West Berkshire Council: CA 6 Nov 2002
The claimants purchased land. The local search did not reveal a planning permission which affected the value of the property by applying an occupancy condition. He claimed compensation. Compensation was eventually agreed to be payable, but the parties did not agree as to the time at which the damage was to be assessed. At the … Continue reading Smith and Another v South Gloucestershire Council: CA 31 Jul 2002
A gravel pit licence was revoked without compensation pursuant to legislation brought in after the owner had acquired the pit but before it had begun to exploit it. The actual revocation took place after the pit had been exploited for a number of years, but the owner had known that its future was uncertain because … Continue reading Fredin v Sweden: ECHR 18 Feb 1991
Where an authority sought to enforce a planning notice a second time, against substantially the same structure, there was no need for the property to be described identically in each notice, in order for the Act’s provisions to be brought into effect. Citations: Gazette 14-Apr-1999, Times 13-Apr-1999, Gazette 24-Mar-1999, [1999] EWHC Admin 225 Links: Bailii … Continue reading Jarmain v Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and Regions Welwyn Hatfield District Council: QBD 12 Mar 1999
The Council had given planning consent for a superstore, not appreciating the proposed size, which would contravene national planning policy. In the face of the council’s objections, the Secretary of State revoked the permission. The substantial compensation would fall on the Council. The inspector described the decision as ‘grossly wrong’ and ‘seriously perverse’, and likely … Continue reading Alnwick District Council v Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and Regions and others: Admn 4 Aug 1999
A Local Authority was not able to impose charge for inquiries as to speculative developments and similar proposals, or for consultations, and pre-planning advice. There was no statutory authority for such a charge, and it was therefore unlawful and ultra vires. A power to charge did not arise by necessary implication. The words ‘necessary implication’ … Continue reading Regina v Richmond Upon Thames London Borough Council, ex parte McCarthy and Stone (Developments) Ltd: HL 14 Nov 1991
The House was asked whether the 1971 Act permitted the relevant authorities, by resort to their development plans, to support the retention of traditional industries or was the ambit of the Act such as to permit only ‘land use’ aims to be pursued? The court considered also the relevance of personal considerations in planning matters. … Continue reading Westminster City Council v Great Portland Estates plc: HL 31 Oct 1984
Land was acquired for a new highway. The developer had persuaded or agreed with the public authority that it would exercise its statutory powers to acquire land possessed of ransom value. Held: What the scheme was which underlined a proposed compulsory acquisition was a matter of fact for the tribunal or court. The statutory powers … Continue reading Ozanne and Others v Hertfordshire County Council: HL 1989
The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human Rights Act since it deprived the respondent lender of its property rights. It was also argued that it was not possible to make a declaration … Continue reading Wilson v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2): HL 10 Jul 2003
ECHR Preliminary objection rejected (victim); Preliminary objection rejected (non-exhaustion); No violation of P1-1; No violation of Art. 14+P1-1; Violation of Art. 14+P1-1; No violation of Art. 13; Just satisfaction reservedThe Court found a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 in circumstances where the domestic courts declared the planning permission a nullity on the … Continue reading Pine Valley Developments Ltd And Others v Ireland: ECHR 29 Nov 1991
Local Authority must consider environmental assessments under new EU directives when reconsidering old mining planning permission. Citations: Times 09-Feb-1998 Statutes: Planning and Compensation Act 1991 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Citing: Appeal to – Regina v North Yorkshire County Council, ex parte Brown and Another HL 12-Feb-1999 When a mineral planning authority set conditions on the … Continue reading Regina v North Yorkshire County Council Ex Parte Brown and Another: CA 9 Feb 1998
In 1982 the surveyor failed to observe serious defects, including a leaking roof and a septic tank with an offensive smell. The plaintiff purchaser could not afford major repairs and executed only minor repairs himself. At the date of the trial the plaintiff was still occupying the house as his home. The judge awarded damages … Continue reading Perry v Sidney Phillips and Son: CA 1982
The applicant had applied to the respondent for funding for new buildings. The application was approved, but the application was rejected when the respondent ran out of funds. The claimant said that a legitimate expectation had been created, and that it should be re-imbursed its expenses. Held: The application failed. The meat of the alleged … Continue reading Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education, Regina (on The Application of) v Learning and Skills Council: Admn 12 Aug 2010
Power to call in is administrative in nature The powers of the Secretary of State to call in a planning application for his decision, and certain other planning powers, were essentially an administrative power, and not a judicial one, and therefore it was not a breach of the applicants’ rights to a fair hearing before … Continue reading Regina (Holding and Barnes plc) v Secretary of State for Environment Transport and the Regions; Regina (Alconbury Developments Ltd and Others) v Same and Others: HL 9 May 2001
Where a certificate of appropriate development was issued for land to be acquired compulsorily, the land was to be valued at the date of the proposal to acquire it compulsorily allowing a discount for any damage to the value incurred by the long expectation of that particular proposal and its consequences and not by reference … Continue reading Newell and others v Secretary of State for the Environment and Another; Fletcher Estates (Harlescott) Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment and Another: HL 17 Feb 2000
Discrimination – History of interactions relevant When a tribunal considered whether the motive for an act was discriminatory, it should look not just at the act, but should make allowance for earlier acts which might throw more light on the act in question. The Tribunal should assess the totality of the evidence on any material … Continue reading Dr Anya v University of Oxford and Another: CA 22 Mar 2001
In the course of ancillary relief proceedings in a divorce, questions arose regarding company assets owned by the husband. The court was asked as to the power of the court to order the transfer of assets owned entirely in the company’s names. The judge had made such an order, finding evidence that the companies had … Continue reading Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd and Others: SC 12 Jun 2013
The land-owner had planning permission to erect a barn, conditional on its use for agricultural purposes. He built inside it a house and lived there from 2002. In 2006. He then applied for a certificate of lawful use. The inspector allowed it, and the Council appealed. The Council now also argued that parliament could not … Continue reading Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another v Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council: SC 6 Apr 2011
The Council had granted planning permission for four student housing units. The Executive complained that they were too near to a liquified gas storage depot. The Court was now asked whether the impact of any compensation which might be payable on any revocation of the consent was a proper material consideration for the Council in … Continue reading The Health and Safety Executive v Wolverhampton City Council: SC 18 Jul 2012
The plaintiff had bought a house on the faith of the defendant’s report that there were only limited defects requiring repair. In fact the defects were much more extensive. The defendant surveyor appealed against an award of damages after his negligent survey of a property. The plaintiff sought damages for distress, and the cost of … Continue reading Watts and Co v Morrow: CA 30 Jul 1991
The claimant owned a house by the river Thames at Hedsor Water. Public rights of navigation existed over the Thames from time immemorial, and its management lay with the respondent. Landowners at Hedsor had sought to assert that that stretch was now private. She appealed an order declaring the continued public rights. Held: The applicant … Continue reading Rowland v The Environment Agency: CA 19 Dec 2003
The claimants had been wrongly imprisoned for a murder they did not commit. The assessor had deducted from their compensation a sum to represent the living costs they would have incurred if living freely. They also appealed differences from a prisoner also wrongly accused of the same crime, in the percentage deduction made for their … Continue reading O’Brien and others v Independent Assessor: HL 14 Mar 2007
The parties had engaged in a bitter 95 day trial in which allegations of forgery, theft, false accounting, blackmail and arson. A company owning patents and other rights had become insolvent, and the real concern was the destination and ownership of . .
The Council sought permission to appeal against the setting aside of two enforcement notices, leave having been refused by the Administrative court. The court now considered whether it had jusridiction, and whether the rule in Lane v Esdaile was to . .
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The local authority made a CPO in 1981 in respect of a sports ground. The applicants later acquired the land. In 1989 the order was confirmed and in March 1989 a vesting order was made. The authority was unable to afford to complete the purchase. In October 1992, the applicant sought a declaration that the … Continue reading Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd v Hastings Borough Council: ChD 23 Jun 1993
The claimant appealed an award of the Lands Tribunal of compensation for an order discontinuing his use as a slaughterhouse of premises of which he held a long lease. The tribunal had applied a discount for wastage on sheep carcasses of 25%, but had had no evidence to support their conclusion, and the figure proposed … Continue reading Mohammed Aslam v South Bedfordshire District Council: CA 21 Dec 2000
There is no power for Court of Appeal itself to give leave to appeal after High Court’s refusal of leave on an enforcement notice. The court rejected the applicant’s submission that a High Court judge’s decision refusing permission to appeal under section 289 fell within section 16 of the 1981 Act. The Master of the … Continue reading Huggett v Secretary of State for the Environment Etc; Wendy Fair Markets Ltd v Same; Bello v Etc: CA 1 Mar 1995
The association sought a judicial review of a decision not to pay compensation in respect of their or their parents or grandparents’ internment by the Japanese in the Second World War. Payment was not made because those interned were not born in Britain. Held: No legitimate expectation had been created and relied upon. The parliamentary … Continue reading The Association of British Civilian Internees – Far Eastern Region (ABCIFER) v Secretary of State for Defence: CA 3 Apr 2003
The Plaintiff had relied on a negligent survey to purchase a substantial Elizabethan property and land. The report did not mention that the timbers of the house were badly affected by death watch beetle and worm so that the only course left to him was to replace the roof and to rebuild the timbers etc. … Continue reading Philips v Ward: CA 1956
An express statutory authority to construct an oil refinery carried with it the authority to refine. It was impossible to construct and operate the refinery upon the site without creating a nuisance. Lord Wilberforce said: ‘It is now well settled that where Parliament by express direction or by necessary implication has authorised the construction and … Continue reading Allen v Gulf Oil Refining Ltd: HL 29 Jan 1980
The company sought damages to its business on a motorway service station when works closed an access road. Held: The Secretary of State’s appeal succeeded. A claim for compensation under section 10 had not been established, at least in respect of the permanent stopping-up orders. Judges: Lord Justice Carnwath Citations: [2007] EWCA Civ 764, [2007] … Continue reading Moto Hospitality Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport: CA 26 Jul 2007
Administrative Discretion to be Used Reasonably The applicant challenged the manner of decision making as to the conditions which had been attached to its licence to open the cinema on Sundays. It had not been allowed to admit children under 15 years of age. The statute provided no appeal procedure, and the applicant sought a … Continue reading Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation: CA 10 Nov 1947
An alcohol licence for a restaurant was withdrawn with immediate effect because of financial irregularities, with the result that the restaurant business collapsed. Held: ‘The government argued that a licence to sell alcoholic beverages could not be considered to be a ‘possession’ within the meaning of Article 1 of the Protocol . . Like the … Continue reading Tre Traktorer Aktiebolag v Sweden: ECHR 7 Jul 1989
Statutory Duty Does Not Create Common Law Duty The mere existence of statutory power to remedy a defect cannot of itself create a duty of care to do so. A highway authority need not have a duty of care to highway users because of its duty to maintain the highway. The two stage test ‘involves … Continue reading Stovin v Wise, Norfolk County Council (Third Party): HL 24 Jul 1996
The applicants had had their requests for asylum refused. They complained that if they were removed from the UK, their article 3 rights would be infringed. If they were returned to Pakistan or Vietnam they would be persecuted for their religious faiths. Held: A distinction was to be made between domestic cases involving actions within … Continue reading Regina v Special Adjudicator ex parte Ullah; Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 17 Jun 2004
The Food Controller had been given power under the Defence of the Realm Acts to regulate milk sales. In granting the dairy a licence to buy milk in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset, the Food Controller required the Dairy to pay 2d. per imperial gallon of milk purchased from those counties. The Attorney-General sued for … Continue reading Attorney-General v Wilts United Dairies Ltd: CA 1921
The claimant’s house was regularly flooded by waters including also foul sewage from the respondent’s neighbouring premises. He sought damages and an injunction. The defendants sought to restrict the claimant to his statutory rights. Held: The damages were restricted to the statutory ones. The defendant was regulated under the 1991 Act by the Director-General, who … Continue reading Marcic v Thames Water Utilities Limited: HL 4 Dec 2003
In each case the prisoners challenged their transfer to cellular confinement or segregation within prison or YOI, saying that the transfers infringed their rights under Article 6, saying that domestic law, either in itself or in conjunction with recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, acknowledged that serving prisoners have a right to … Continue reading King, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice: CA 27 Mar 2012
The claimant sought damages from the defendant surveyor. He had asked the defendant whether the house he was to buy was subject to aircraft noise. After re-assurance, he bought the house. The surveyor was wrong and negligent. A survey would not normally cover this question, but he had been asked the question and he had … Continue reading Farley v Skinner: HL 11 Oct 2001
Land was bought for development, but the purchaser later discovered a sewage pipe which very substantially limited its development potential. The existence of the pipe had not been disclosed on the sale, being unknown to the seller. Held: Under the National Conditions of Sale, it is the purchaser who takes the risk of there being … Continue reading William Sindall Plc v Cambridgeshire County Council: CA 21 May 1993
The appellant challenged the procedure for reviewing a decision made as to the suitability of accomodation offered to her after the respondent had accepted her as being homeless. The procedure involved a review by an officer of the council, with an appeal to the County Court on a point of law. Held: The decision was … Continue reading Runa Begum v London Borough of Tower Hamlets (First Secretary of State intervening): HL 13 Feb 2003
The defendant had been convicted, under regulations made under the Act, of smoking in a railway carriage. He sought to challenge the validity of the regulations themselves. He wanted to argue that the power to ban smoking on carriages did not . .
Our law-index is a substantial selection from our database. Cases here are restricted in number by date and lack the additional facilities formerly available within lawindexpro. Please do enjoy this free version of the lawindex. Case law does not ‘belong’ to lawyers. Judgments are made up of words which can be read and understood (if … Continue reading law index
