Appeal concerning the meaning of ‘dependants’ in an agricultural occupancy condition attached to a planning permission: ‘The occupation of the dwelling shall be limited to persons employed or last employed solely or mainly and locally in agriculture as defined by Section 290(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1971, or in forestry and the dependants (which shall be taken to include a widow or widower) of such persons.’ The farm was run by Mrs S, but her husband had a quite independent business which in practice supported the farm. The appellants contended that Mr Shortt and the children were not ‘dependants’ of Mrs Shortt within the meaning of the condition and that their occupation of the dwelling had been at all material times in breach of the condition, with a consequence that they were immune from enforcement action.
Held: The landowners appeal failed. The condition was valid. Planning Policy Guidance 7 required a strict approach towards the grant of planning permission for agricultural and forestry dwellings. The purpose of granting planning permission subject to an agricultural occupancy condition for dwellings in the countryside is to provide accommodation that is needed for an agricultural worker. It is reasonably to be expected, however, that an agricultural worker with a family will want to live in such accommodation with his or her family; and the obvious purpose of the inclusion of dependants within the condition is to permit them to do just that. There is no obvious reason why this condition should be read as applying only where the agricultural worker provides financial support to the family members living with him or her. Indeed, it would be very surprising if the intention were to permit an agricultural worker to have family members living with him or her only so long as the agricultural business was profitable, or to require family finances to be organised in such a way as to channel profits from the agricultural business into meeting the family’s ordinary living expenses rather than, for example, allowing them to be reinvested in the agricultural business while relying on the spouse’s income to meet the living expenses.
Richards, Sales LJJ, Body J
[2015] EWCA Civ 1192
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Fawcett Properties Ltd v Buckingham County Council HL 1960
A grant of planning permission was subject to an agricultural occupancy condition: ‘The occupation of the houses shall be limited to persons whose employment or latest employment is or was employment in agriculture as defined by section 119(1) of . .
Appeal from – Shortt v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another Admn 22-Jul-2014
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Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Planning, Agriculture
Updated: 06 January 2022; Ref: scu.554786
