D was carrying out an office development. On land adjacent to the development there were two houses used as site offices whilst the development was undertaken. D began to demolish the houses to provide car parking and Improvements to the amenity of the development by landscaping of the land on which the two houses stood. CCC served enforcement notices on D identifying the demolition as a breach of planning control, requiring the demolition to cease and the restoration of the houses to their previous condition. D sought to set aside the enforcement notices under section 88(2)(b) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 on the ground that the demolition works were not a development within the meaning of section 22 of the Act. On the recommendation of an inspector the Secretary of State quashed the notices. On CCC’s appeal the High Court remitted the matter to the Secretary of State.
Held, allowing D’s appeal. Operations for the purpose of demolishing and rebuilding were not a development within the meaning of section 22 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971. Whether the demolition works were works ‘normally undertaken by a person carrying on a business as a builder’ was not a relevant consideration given that neither party had raised it before the inspector. The judge erred in setting aside the Secretary of State’s decision on that basis. The inspector had decided as a matter of fact that the demolition works were not an engineering operation in their own right. Demolition was not of itself an ‘other operation on land’ within the meaning of section 22 of the Act. Accordingly the works undertaken by D were not a development within the meaning of section 22 of the Act.
90 LGR 2005
Town and Country Planning Act 1971 22
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Cambridge City Council v Secretary of State for the Environment and Milton Park Investments Ltd 1992
D. wanting to develop an office block, bought neighbouring semi-detached houses hoping to provide additional car parking, enhancing the visual aspects and improving highway safety. When temporary planning consent for use of these properties as site . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Planning
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.669685
