South Cambridgeshire District Council v Persons Unknown: CA 17 Sep 2004

The council appealed refusal of an order against persons unknown with regard to preventing breaches of planning control at a specific site.
Held: An injunction could properly be granted against persons unknown ‘causing or permitting hardcore to be deposited, caravans, mobile homes or other forms of residential accommodation to be stationed, or existing caravans or other mobile homes to be occupied on land’ adjacent to a gypsy encampment in rural Cambridgeshire. The land adjoined a gipsy caravan site. The council had refused applications to allow infill development between such sites. The courts powers had clearly developed sufficiently to make an order of the kind sought in this kind of situation. Brooke LJ commented: ‘There was some difficulty in times gone by against obtaining relief against persons unknown, but over the years that problem has been remedied either by statute or by rule.’

Judges:

Brooke and Clarke LJJ

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 1280, Times 11-Nov-2004

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedBloomsbury Publishing Group Ltd and J K Rowling v News Group Newspapers Ltd and others ChD 23-May-2003
The publishers had gone to great lengths to keep advance copies of a forthcoming book in the Harry Potter series secret. They became aware that some had been stolen from the printers and sought injunctions against the defendants and another unnamed . .

Cited by:

CitedX and Y v Persons Unknown QBD 8-Nov-2006
The claimants sought an injunction against unknown persons who were said to have divulged confidential matters to newspapers. The order had been served on newspapers who now complained that the order was too uncertain to allow them to know how to . .
CitedSecretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs v Meier and Others SC 1-Dec-2009
The claimant sought a possession order to recover land from trespassers. The court considered whether a possession order was available where not all the land was occupied, and it was feared that the occupiers might simply move onto a different part. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Planning, Environment, Litigation Practice

Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.216385