QB-2019-002737 - [2025] EWHC 2603 (KB)

Discussion and decision

The background

The Injunction was made following Eyre J’s judgment which is reported at London Borough of Havering v Stokes & Ors [2024] EWHC 2496 (KB), “the Eyre J Judgment”.

In summary, the Injunction was not borough-wide against Persons Unknown but applied to 306 specific sites (described in the Injunction as the “Sensitive Sites”)in the Borough which equated to just under 23% of the land in the Borough. The Sensitive Sites were selected by the Claimant as being those that were frequently targeted by unauthorised encampments visiting the Borough. They were identified as being particularly vulnerable and included parks and open spaces, school grounds, retail sites and car parks: see [65] of the Eyre J Judgment.

A power of arrest was attached to the prohibitions only in relation to two Named Defendants (the Fourth and Sixteenth Defendants); no power of arrest was granted in relation to Persons Unknown.

The factual background that led to the making of the Injunction is set out at [14] – [25] of the Eyre J judgment. At [15] Eyre J explained:

“The Claimant’s concern is not primarily with traveller encampments without more. Instead its particular concern is with those of such encampments as are associated with commercial fly-tipping and/or forcible entry to property and in particular those of such encampments as are associated with aggression on the part of the occupiers to others. It is important to keep in mind at all times that, as the Claimant expressly recognises, to the extent that those who engage in such behaviour are members of the Traveller or Gypsy communities they form a small and non-representative minority in such groups.”

The Injunction was made against 43 named defendants up to and including 19 October 2025 and is due to expire as against those defendants at 00:00 hours on 20 October 2025. The Claimant has made no application in respect of those defendants but has applied for the Injunction to be extended for a further period of one year in relation to the defined category of Persons Unknown. As with the Injunction in respect of the named defendants that aspect of the order of Eyre J is also due to expire at 00:00 hrs on 20 October 2025.

“Persons Unknown” in the draft order that is being sought by the Claimant are defined as “persons unknown forming unauthorised encampments within the London Borough of Havering”.

The application before me related to slightly fewer Sensitive Sites than in the Injunction, some 291 Sensitive Sites. The Claimant does not seek an order in respect of Sensitve Site numbers 27, 51, 133, 151, 155, 268, 286, 287, 288, 289, 291, 295, 301, 302 and 304 in the Injunction.

As with the Injunction, the order that the Claimant seeks forbids Persons Unknown forming an Encampment on the Sensitive Sites or any part of the Sensitive Sites within the London Borough of Havering unless certain conditions have been met:

Written Permission from the Local Planning Authority; or

planning permission granted by the Secretary of State; or

it is in accordance with statutory permitted development rights; or

having secured written consent from the landowner of the relevant Sensitive Site, and without having given the Local Planning Authority 2 working days’ written notice of the intention to stop on the site by giving notice to the Claimant’s Enforcement & Community Safety Team.