Cases - Malvern Hills District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment

Record details

Name
Malvern Hills District Council v Secretary of State for the Environment
Date
[1982]; (1982); (1983)
Citation
1 EGLR 175; 262 EG 1190; 46 P&CR 58
Legislation
Keywords
Planning control
Summary

The developer accurately marked out the line and width of the first 250 feet of road for an estate of 25 houses. He used pegs which were 2.5 feet long by about 2 inches square and driven into the ground. The question for the Court of Appeal was whether the pegging out was within the definition of a 'specified operation' (now 'material operation' under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) as an 'operation in the course of laying out or constructing a road or part of a road'. The Court rejected the council's claim that operation bore the same meaning as 'operations' in the definition of development. The inspector's view, that 'laying out' was marking out the road on the ground in accordance with an approved plan as a necessary preliminary to construction of the road, was accepted by the Court.