[2024] UKUT 187 (LC)

The Goring Hotel is said to be the only remaining hotel in London which is still owned and run by the family who built it. One of the mid-20^th century proprietors was Mr Otto Gustave Goring, who took refuge from the stresses of hotel management at his country estate, Court Lodge, in Wrotham near Sevenoaks in Kent.

Court Lodge originally comprised around 14 acres in the centre of the village and extending to the west, with a long southern boundary to West Street and access from Old London Road. The main house was at the eastern end of the estate, which in the main appears to have been parkland.

Following Mr Goring’s death in 1974 his executors, his widow Edna and Mr Michael Penn, sold just over 2 acres (“the application land”) in the south-west corner of the estate to the local authority, Tonbridge and Malling District Council. The 1975 conveyance limited the use of the site to use as an old persons’ warden scheme with gardens and ancillary uses.

Today, the application land is owned by Clarion Housing Association Limited (“Clarion”), a social housing provider. Clarion says that warden-controlled schemes for older people are no longer viable. It has secured planning permission for a general residential development and applies to the Tribunal to have the restrictions in the 1975 conveyance modified or discharged to enable that development to take place.

Many local residents, who are listed in the appendix, filed objections to the application with the Tribunal. However, at the hearing on 28 May 2024, none of them attended, nor were they represented. Mr Ben Maltz appeared for Clarion.

Where objectors do not attend a hearing, the Tribunal does not simply rubber stamp the application, but considers in light of the objections received, whether the grounds of the application have been made out. In this case one member of the panel had already conducted an unaccompanied inspection of the locality the day before the hearing.