[2024] UKUT 360 (LC)

The FTT made a site visit and conducted a hearing on 11 and 12 March 2024 which, according to the Mr Sunderland, was occupied largely in argument about the licence conditions. It seems that on the second day the point was made that the appeal had been brought under section 7 which provides for the appeal of conditions attached to a new licence, whereas the respondent’s position was that the document issued on 20 April 2023 was not a new licence. Following argument about the consequences of that the FTT issued a decision striking out the appellant’s case.

In that decision the FTT set out the events leading up to the issue of the disputed document, and the relevant provisions of the 1960 Act, and then said this:

“31.

As stated above, it became clear during the hearing that the applicant’s case depended on their argument that the licence issued on 20 April 2023 was a new licence. Mr Sunderland submitted that if the Tribunal decided the licence was in fact a transfer, section 7 of the 1960 Act had no application. The correct process would be for the applicant to apply for a variation and appeal under section 8 if they were aggrieved by any refusal (or from any variation of the conditions) by the council.

…

34.

The tribunal agree with [the respondent] that the correspondence outlined above supports the council’s case that the licence was transferred as opposed to newly issued. … It is unfortunate that the licence itself did not comply with section 10 but that omission can and should be remedied by the council. There is no prejudice to the applicant who had already agreed the transfer date of 6 August 2021.

…

36.

The tribunal agrees with Mr Sunderland that in the circumstances the tribunal cannot entertain his application under section 7. The applicant has of course already applied for a variation of the condition in respect of the number of caravans (see paragraph 14) but it appears that this request has not yet been dealt with by the council. Both parties have considered the disputed conditions at length as part of this application and some concessions have been made on both sides. It is therefore hoped that the parties can agree a variation in respect of most of the conditions in dispute but in the event that the applicant is “aggrieved” by the decision they can of course apply to the tribunal under section 8.”

The application for variation of the condition in the number of caravans is the one mentioned at paragraph 13 above; the Tribunal has no information about what has happened to that application. The appellant has permission to appeal the striking out of his appeal under section 7 on the ground that the document issued on 20 April 2023 was indeed a new licence and that his application should not have been struck out.