Enforcement notice — Change of use — Stationing of caravans — Inspector upholding enforcement notice on appeal — Inspector accepting use of land agricultural and then asking if caravans in residential use — Whether inspector applying wrong test in relation to change of use — Appeal allowed
The second defendant council issued an enforcement notice in respect of the stationing of a mobile home and a touring caravan on the claimant’s land. The notice alleged a change of use of the land from agricultural use, without planning permission. The claimant appealed to the first defendant secretary of state, whose inspector had accepted that the use of the land had been agricultural and went on to ask whether the caravans were used for residential purposes. He dismissed the appeal. The claimant appealed under section 289 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Held: The appeal was allowed.
The inspector had failed to follow clear judicial authority on the appropriate test of change of use. He should have first determined what the use of the planning unit had been, and should then have asked what effect the introduction of the caravans had had, and whether that effect had resulted in a change of use. The inspector had addressed only the use of the caravans themselves, considering whether they were used for residential purposes, and had not asked whether such use had had the effect of changing the use of the planning unit as a whole: Wealden District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment (1987) 87 LGR 1 applied.
Paul Greatorex (instructed under the Bar Public Access Scheme) appeared for the claimant; Robert Palmer (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared for the first defendant; the second defendant did not appear and was not represented.
Sally Dobson, barrister
