Purchase notice — Notice of entry — Suitable accommodation — Whether offer of bed and breakfast suitable — Whether compensation must be agreed before entry — Application dismissed
In 1972 the local planning authority served an enforcement notice under the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 in respect of the alleged unauthorised use of a site known as “The Willows”, Spellbrook, Sawbridgeworth, for a residential caravan. In 1984 the respondents served a discontinuance order upon the applicant and that and another enforcement notice in respect of unauthorised buildings were upheld by the Secretary of State for the Environment in 1986 on appeal. The applicant in due course served a compensation notice in respect of the discontinuance order and a purchase notice on the respondents. The Secretary of State confirmed the purchase notice in November 1988 and on May 11 1989 the respondents served a notice of entry under section 11 of the Compulsory Purchase Act 1965. On June 12 1989 the respondents resolved to take possession of the site.
The applicant applied for judicial review of that decision on the grounds that (1) the respondents, in only offering bed and breakfast accommodation, were in breach of their duty under section 51(8) of the 1971 Act to provide accommodation suitable to the reasonable requirements of the persons subject to the effects of the discontinuance order and (2) it was Wednesbury unreasonable to decide to displace the applicant and her family and effect a purchase for which no money is paid, as the applicant will have no means to obtain accommodation before the Lands Tribunal determines compensation.
Held The application was dismissed.
The offer of temporary bed and breakfast accommodation was not unreasonable and was not a breach of the respondents’ statutory duty; further discussions on permanent accommodation were not precluded. The whole matter had arisen from the applicant’s use of the site in breach of planning control and the respondents had acted properly in reaching their decision; it was not perverse or Wednesbury unreasonable.
R v Bristol Corporation, ex parte Hendy
(1974) 27 P & CR 180 considered.
Patrick Ground QC and Moira Pooley (instructed by Pellys, of Bishop’s Stortford) appeared for the applicant; and Jeremy Sullivan QC and Richard Humphreys (instructed by Lovell White & Durrant) appeared for the respondents.