The Council applied for the committal of the defendant for an alleged breach of a without notice injunction. Notice of the injunction had been placed at the site, requiring nobody to move caravans onto the land.
Held: The application succeeded. Having examined the case law the need for committal was established. The defendant was to be committed to prison for 28 days, that sentence suspended for 4 weeks to allow him to remove the caravans and for the children to finish their school term. A fine would be insufficient to mark the seriousness of need to obey court orders.
Cranston J
[2011] EWHC 1626 (QB)
Bailii
Town and Country Planning Act 1990 187B
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Lincolnshire County Council Ex Parte Atkinson; Regina v Wealden District Council Ex Parte Wales and Others QBD 3-Oct-1995
A local Authority must make proper welfare enquiries before seeking to remove unlawful campers. The new draconic legislation must be seen in its context. The commons of England provided lawful stopping places for people whose way of life was or had . .
Cited – Cala Homes (South) Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another CA 27-May-2011
The respondent had circularised local authorities to say that when assessing future local housing needs a proper material consideration was the proposed Localism Bill which would lead to the replacement of ‘Regional Spatial Strategies’ on which such . .
Cited – Cala Homes (South) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another Admn 10-Nov-2010
Regional Spatial Stategies, setting targets for new homes within regions, and governing planning consents were to be withdrawn by the respondent and replaced in due course by a new planning bill. The claimant objected that this could only be . .
Cited – Brentwood Borough Council v Ball and Others QBD 8-Oct-2009
The court refused the local authority an injunction to remove gypsies occupying land in beach of planning controls. . .
Cited – O’Brien and others v South Cambridgeshire District Council CA 24-Oct-2008
The court considered the use of injunctions to restrain breaches of planning control. The applicants were gypsies who had taken up occupation of land in mobile homes. The respondent had given them twelve months for them to find alternative . .
Cited – Regina v Newland CACD 1987
The appellant, a woman of gypsy descent had been fined for breach of a planning enforcement order. The crown court judge had concluded cursorily that her planning appeal was hopeless and simply designed to frustrate the local authority. By the time . .
Cited – Guilford Borough Council v Smith QBD 18-May-1993
An injunction had been obtained to enforce planning controls against the defendant gypsies, and the council now sought committal for breach.
Held: Committal was refused. Only a deliberate or wilful contempt attracted imprisonment and the . .
Cited – Guilford Borough Council v Smith QBD 18-May-1993
An injunction had been obtained to enforce planning controls against the defendant gypsies, and the council now sought committal for breach.
Held: Committal was refused. Only a deliberate or wilful contempt attracted imprisonment and the . .
Cited – ZH (Tanzania) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 1-Feb-2011
The respondent had arrived and claimed asylum. Three claims were rejected, two of which were fraudulent. She had two children by a UK citizen, and if deported the result would be (the father being unsuitable) that the children would have to return . .
Cited – Baker and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Others CA 28-Feb-2008
Dyson LJ considered the interaction between race relations law and planning permission in the context of gypsy encampments. He looked at section 71 of the 1976 Act and said: ‘In my judgment, it is important to emphasise that the section 71(1) duty . .
Cited – South Cambridgeshire District Council v Gammell CA 2005
The Council had taken out an injunction under section 187B of the 1990 Act to prevent unknown persons placing caravans on certain lands. The defendants acted in breach of those injunctions, and the Council requested their committal for contempt. The . .
Cited – Wrexham County Borough Council v Berry; South Buckinghamshire District Council v Porter and another; Chichester District Council v Searle and others HL 22-May-2003
The appellants challenged the refusal to grant them injunctions to prevent Roma parking caravans on land they had purchased.
Held: Parliament had given to local authorities exclusive jurisdiction on matters of planning policy, but when an . .
Cited – Mid-Bedfordshire District Council v Thomas Brown and others CA 20-Dec-2004
The land owners, gypsies, had purchased agricultural land intending to occupy it as residential land in breach of green belt planning controls. The council had obtained an injunction, but appealed its suspension.
Held: The council’s appeal . .
Cited – South Bucks District Council v Smith and Another QBD 23-Feb-2006
David Clarke J held that in the light of paragraphs 45 and 46 of circular 1/06, it would be disproportionate to force a gypsy family to leave their site situated in the green belt. They had occupied it in breach of planning control for thirty-two . .
Cited – South Bedfordshire District Council v Price and Others CA 5-May-2006
The defendants sought to appeal orders restraining them from the use of their land for residential purposes, and were awaiting the outcome of their appeal. They now appealed against the enforcement of committal orders for their breaches of the . .
Cited – Wychavon District Council v Rafferty and others CA 27-Apr-2006
The council had obtained a without notice injunction restraining Romany gypsies from stationing caravans on certain land. They subsequently applied for planning permission to use the land to have three mobile homes and several touring caravans. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contempt of Court, Planning
Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.441225