Shortt v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Town and Country Planning – Agricultural occupancy condition – Occupation in breach – Application for certificate of lawfulness of existing use or development – Meaning of ‘dependant’
On appeal from [2014] EWHC 2480 (Admin)

Town and Country Planning Act 1990 – Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 – Status of consultation with and advice from Natural England when site not designated – Use of s.106 TCPA to avoid consequences of compensation for revocation or modification of permission

Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England) Regulations 2011 – Screening opinion – Adequacy of reasons – Need for the screening opinion to be read in the context of surrounding circumstances

Local development documents – Neighbourhood Development Plans – Ability of neighbourhood development plans to include site allocation policies – Strategic Environmental Assessment – Requirement to consider both positive and negative environmental effects – Screening report to be read “as a whole and with a degree of benevolence”

Donatio mortis causa – Gift made in contemplation of death – Necessary features of gift: (a) death from a particular cause; (b) revocable until death; (c) lapse if death does not occur within reasonable time

Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, s.66(1) – Heritage assets – Whether onus on decision-maker to prove compliance – Principles applicable to determining planning applications

Town and Country Planning – Wind turbine – Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988 – Statutory interpretation – Resolution of conflict between local planning policies – Inspector’s treatment of benefits of project and of condition related to noise

Town and Country Planning – Two planning permissions in identical terms, save for condition requiring payment – Whether developer may commence development under one permission and change to the second and thereby avoid the payment

Boundary line on plan “for the purposes of identification only and not of limitation or enlargement” – Application of the presumption usque ad medium filum viae – Prescriptive right of way – Evidence to support the same – Extent of right

Town and Country Planning – Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 – Cessation of Local Plan policies – ibid., sch.8: Secretary of State’s power to save policies – Policy designating Green Belt not saved – Whether other policies referring to Green Belt continued in effect