Cases - Blight & White Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment
Record details
- Name
- Blight & White Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment
- Date
- [1993]
- Citation
- 1 PLR 1
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Planning control - Use Classes Order 1972
- Summary
-
A building had permission for the fabrication of structural steelwork and general engineering. The permission was subject to a condition that the premises should be used only for the purposes within Use Class III under the Use Classes Order 1972. (This was the old light industrial use with the same notional residential amenity test as now appears in class B1.) After the appellants took over the building, local residents on a nearby estate began to complain about noise. The local planning authority served enforcement notices alleging both breach of the condition and a material change of use. The appellants claimed that the condition was inconsistent with the permission which permitted a general industrial use and should be severed from it.
The High Court held that it was not self-evident that the permitted industrial activity must cause detriment to amenity by emissions, given the mitigating measures which might be put in place. The condition was a perfectly valid means of ensuring that noise and other emissions were at an acceptable level.