Cases - Bloomfield v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Record details

Name
Bloomfield v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Date
[1999]
Citation
2 PLR 79
Legislation
Keywords
Planning control
Summary

Permission had been granted for the retention of a chalet subject to a condition that it be used for recreational purposes from April to October and not for permanent residential occupation. The storage of domestic and household effects was permitted from November to March. More than 4 years after the building had been used for permanent residential occupation, the local planning authority served an enforcement notice requiring such occupation to cease. The appellant claimed that as there had been a change of use from recreational and storage use to use as a single dwellinghouse, the four-year rule applied and the use was immune. The High Court held that the chalet was at all times a dwellinghouse, so there had been a breach of condition, not a material change of use. The recreational and storage uses are ordinarily incidental to the residential use.