News and Resources
Below is a selection of news items, case notes, articles, books and papers authored by members of Chambers.
There is also a separate Archive of Inspector’s Reports in respect of applications to register new town or village greens.
Compensation Award for Extinguishment of Waste Transfer Business for Thameslink 2000
Welcocks Skip Hire Ltd v Network Rail [2019] UKUT 0162 In a decision dated 17 July 2019 the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has awarded compensation in excess of £8,000,000 to a claimant company whose waste transfer business was extinguished by Network Rail’s Thameslink 2000 Scheme Read more
Local Housing Need – National Policy Regarding ‘Standard Method’ Dis-applied in Central Bedfordshire
The Planning Inspectorate has recently issued two decision-letters regarding Section 78 Appeals in Central Bedfordshire. The two appeals, both of which related to schemes for residential development, were dismissed – see Ref: APP/P0240/W/18/3206495: Land west of New Road, Clifton SG17 5JH, decision dated 25 June 2019, and Ref: APP/P0240/W/18/3218992: Land at Clophill Road, Maulden, Bedford, MK45 2AA, decision dated 10 July 2019. Read more
High Court Rejects Claim Over Alpaca Bovine Tuberculosis Tests
Mr Justice Murray has rejected a judicial review claim seeking to require the re-testing of a stud male alpaca following earlier tests showing positive results for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) (R (MacDonald) v SSEFRA [2019] EWHC 1783 (Admin)). The judgment discusses in detail the legal background and testing regimes that apply to bTB in South American camelids. One particular issue was the use of “priming” by injection of tuberculin via a skin test prior to serological (blood) testing. Read more
Oxford to Cambridge Expressway Judicial Review Judgment
Mrs Justice Lang DBE has handed down judgment this morning in R (Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust) v Secretary of State for Transport and Another [2019] EWHC 1786 (Admin), dismissing a challenge brought by Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust against a decision made by the Secretary of State for Transport to approve recommendations from Highways England relating to a preferred corridor area for the proposed new Oxford to Cambridge Expressway. Read more
Star Directors Back New Premises Licence for Independent Cinema in Camden’s Cumulative Impact Policy Area
The Garden Cinema, a new independent arts cinema and media hub in Seven Dials, Covent Garden London has been granted a premises licence enabling it to serve alcohol and show films as an exception to the London Borough of Camden’s strict Cumulative Impact Policy. The project is the brainchild of Michael Chambers, the founder of the well-known Chambers & Partners Legal Directories. Read more
Village Green 'Five Year Delay' Claim Withdrawn
An application to register land known as 'Freeman's Wood' in Lancaster as a town or village green can go ahead after a judicial review brought by a potential developer (R (Satnam Investments Ltd) v Lancashire County Council) was withdrawn. The application to register the land was first made in 2012. Despite repeated chasing by the applicant, the county council did not conclude that the application was "duly made" until February 2018. The landowner and developer claimed not to have had any notice of the application in the meantime, such that their interests had been prejudiced by the delay (the land was being promoted for development and it was claimed that the expense incurred in doing so might have been wasted if the application was subsequently successful). Read more
Private Stables Not Liable to Business Rates: Corkish (VO) v Bigwood [2019] UKUT 191 (LC)
The Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal has found that an extensive equestrian complex at the home of Olympian Fiona Bigwood is 'domestic' and therefore not liable to business rates. The Tribunal gave helpful guidance on when stables, and other such buildings, would be considered to be an 'other appurtenance' so as to be classified as domestic property. It will be necessary in each case to consider whether the stable is 'intimately associated' with the main house so as to be 'part and parcel' with it and constituting an integral whole with it. The fact that the stables are large is not by itself an obstacle to a conclusion that they are domestic [61], [55]. It is necessary to look at the "nature and function of the buildings and other facilities themselves, their proximity to each other, and the general layout of the site." [54]. Function is a more important consideration than size [64]. The success with which a private equestrian pursues their activities is not relevant [65]. Read more
Meyric Lewis Appears for CPA at the IRWA International Education Conference 2019 in Portland Oregon
Meyric Lewis was delighted to appear again on behalf of the CPA at the IRWA International Education Conference 2019, this year in Portland, Oregon, in company with CPA Chair Jon Stott of Gateley Hamer and former CPA Chair Richard Asher of Savills. There was another record attendance at the IRWA’s annual conference with about 1300 delegates from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Japan and of course the UK. Read more
Airport to be Deregistered as Common Land
Blackbushe Airport was registered common land. This unusual state of affairs was because, after requisitioning during the Second World War, the land continued in use as a civil airfield and, upon derequisitioning in 1960, was not returned to use as a common. The current operators of the airport applied to remove the land from the register of common land on the basis that it lay within the curtilage of the terminal building (see paragraph 6 of Schedule 2 to the Commons Act 2006). The Open Spaces Society objected. The Inspector considered that whether the land was or was not within the curtilage of the control tower was a matter of fact and degree. In the circumstances, he decided that it was. More particularly he held that curtilage for the purposes of the Commons Act 2006 had the same meaning as it had in the Planning Acts. Following a recently decided case on the meaning of curtilage in the Planning Acts (Challenge Fencing [2019] EWHC 553 (Admin)), he held that it did not have to be an area ancillary to the terminal building and that there was no requirement for it to be a small area. Read more
New Judgment on NPPF Para 11(D) and Outdated Policies
Mr Justice Dove has handed down judgment in the case of Wavendon Properties v SSHCLG & Milton Keynes Council [2019] EWHC 1524 (Admin) dealing with a number of alleged misinterpretations of the provisions of the new National Planning Policy Framework. The main issue concerned the meaning of the phrase “the policies which are most important for determining the application are out-of-date” in paragraph 11(d) of the NPPF. This is a critical provision in the NPPF as it acts as a trigger for engaging the tilted balance. This provision differs from that in the former 2012 NPPF, which referred to the situation where “relevant policies are out‑of‑date”. Read more