Cases - R v Secretary of State, ex parte Ahern
Record details
- Name
- R v Secretary of State, ex parte Ahern
- Date
- [1989]
- Citation
- 2 PLR 96
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Enforcement notice - material change of use
- Summary
-
Planning permission for use of land as a skip transfer waste station was granted subject to a condition that the use cease by 31 August 1987. In September 1987 an enforcement notice was served alleging a material change of use. It was common ground that it should have cited breach of condition. On appeal the inspector determined that the notice was so defective as to be a nullity. The applicants challenged that decision in the High Court.
Mr Justice Roch held that the notice was not a nullity and could be varied by the Secretary of State under his powers in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as the variation would be without injustice to the appellant or the LPA. He stated that the law has progressed:
'to the point where the pettifogging has stopped, where artificial and nice distinctions understood only by lawyers no longer prevail, and the Act can be read so that it means what it says ...'
He held that it was no longer the case that stating the wrong breach was an error that could not be corrected, as the earlier cases showed. The statement of Lord Denning in Miller-Mead that the Minister 'can correct errors so long as, having regard to the merits of the case, the correction can be made without injustice' is the law.