AC-2025-LON-000036 - [2025] EWHC 2701 (Admin)

The Site comprises 0.9 hectares of what was a former horticultural nursery. A building stands on the Site for which permission was granted in 2001. The site is surrounded by agricultural land to its north, east and west. Opposite on the south side of the road is Rectory Farm, including a children’s day nursery. Further to the east are a few houses, with the village of North Crawley including its church, primary school, pub and grocery shop just over one kilometre away.

There are currently 5 static mobile homes on the land and 8 touring caravans, although the deemed application sought permission for 4 pitches (including 4 static caravans) for the current occupiers, who comprise a large related wider family group. The appellant and his family reside on Pitch 1.

The Council was first notified over the third weekend of November 2021 that various works had been taking place on the Site at night.

A site visit by the Council on 2 December 2021 revealed that the site was being cleared with machinery and a Temporary Stop Notice (a TSN) was issued on 3 December 2021. On 6 December 2021, reports were received by the Council that, in what appears to have been breaches of the TSN, overnight 3 December 2021 mobile homes and touring caravans were moved onto the site and occupied and that further works continued over the weekend of the 4 and 5 December 2021. As a consequence of that information, the Enforcement Notice together with a Stop Notice were served on 9 December 2021. On 17 June 2022, the Council obtained an injunction pursuant to s.187B broadly prohibiting the intensification of the user of the Site. There was no compliance.

The Applicant brought his appeal against the Enforcement Notice on 21 December 2021 on grounds (2) (a), (c), (f), and (g) of section 174 of the TCPA 1990. Section 174 provides that:

“(1)

A person having an interest in the land to which an enforcement notice relates or a relevant occupier may appeal to the Secretary of State against the notice, whether or not a copy of it has been served on him.

(2)

An appeal may be brought on any of the following grounds—

(a)

that, in respect of any breach of planning control which may be constituted by the matters stated in the notice, planning permission ought to be granted or, as the case may be, the condition or limitation concerned ought to be discharged;

(b)

…

(c)

that those matters (if they occurred) do not constitute a breach of planning control;

(d)

…

(e)

…

(f)

that the steps required by the notice to be taken, or the activities required by the notice to cease, exceed what is necessary to remedy any breach of planning control which may be constituted by those matters or, as the case may be, to remedy any injury to amenity which has been caused by any such breach;

(g)

that any period specified in the notice in accordance with section 173(9) falls short of what should reasonably be allowed.”

The appeal against the Enforcement Notice was supported by grounds of appeal contained in a letter dated 21 December 2021. There was no formal statement of case. The grounds of appeal referred to a number of documents that had been submitted to the Council by way of application for planning permission, which the Applicant relied upon in relation to its ground (a) appeal.

A public inquiry commenced on 17 October 2023 and closed on 10 September 2024. At the time of the appeal there were five static mobile homes and eight touring caravans on the Site and the Enforcement Notice had therefore not been complied with.

The decision of the Inspector was promulgated on 10 December 2024. He upheld the Enforcement Notice save that he removed item (iv), removal of 45 metres of hedgerow, from the items listed as alleged breaches of planning control, and he extended the time for compliance from three to nine months.

The Secretary of State contends that permission to appeal, pursuant to the provisions of section 289 of the TCPA 1990, should be refused both on procedural grounds and on the substance of the application for permission to appeal.