[2025] EWHC 2127 (Admin)

This is the judgment of the Court following a rolled-up hearing to determine whether the Claimant, Mole Valley District Council (“the Council”), should be granted permission, and if so, the relief claimed, in respect of a planning statutory review under s.288 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (“the 1990 Act”) and an appeal under s.289 of that Act. The decisions which are the subject of these applications are those of the Secretary of State, the First Defendant, such decisions having been made by one of her inspectors.

The decisions both concerned the making of a material change in the use of land at Cidermill Hatch, Partridge Lane, Newdigate, Dorking, Surrey RH5 5BP (“the Site”) without planning permission for the stationing of residential caravans and touring caravans for residential purposes together with ancillary operational development (“the development”). The land belongs to the Second Defendant, Margaret Meloney. The Claimant issued an enforcement notice and decision notice refusing planning permission in respect of the development on the Site. Ms Meloney appealed against the enforcement notice and the decision notice. Those appeals were determined by the Inspector with his decision set out in the decision letter (“DL”) dated 18 February 2025. The Inspector quashed the enforcement notice and granted planning permission. The Claimant authority now seeks to challenge the Inspector’s decisions.