A High Court probe is under way into the status of company directors in respect of planning matters, and whether they can mount planning appeals personally in matters concerning their companies.
The point has been raised in a challenge by Buckinghamshire County Council against a planning inspector’s decision in November last year. The inspector allowed an appeal by company director, John Brown, against an enforcement notice, which alleged a change of material use of land without consent.
Mr Brown is principal shareholder and managing director of Matthews and Brown Industrial Services Ltd, which is tenant of the site.
Counsel for Buckinghamshire, Mr Benedict Sefi, argued that Mr Brown had had no legal standing to bring the appeal as he had no personal legal interest in the site. He also argued that Mr Brown was not ‘a relevant occupier’ within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Mr Sefi also said that Mr Brown could not be treated as the ‘alter ego’ of, or ‘the same entity’ as, the company which, he said, had its own legal identity. In addition, he said that, in those circumstances, the inspector who dealt with the case had no jurisdiction under the Act to entertain Mr Brown’s appeal.
The hearing continues.
Buckinghamshire County Council v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Robin Purchas QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge) 2 August 2000.
PLS News 3/8/00
