Cases - North Devon District Council v First Secretary of State & NC Stokes
Record details
- Name
- North Devon District Council v First Secretary of State & NC Stokes
- Date
- [2004]; [2004]
- Citation
- EWHC 578 (Admin); 3 PLR 62
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Planning control
- Summary
-
Planning permission had been granted in 1971 for 5 holiday bungalows subject to a condition that they should be occupied only from 15 March to 15 November in each year. The claimant had occupied one of the bungalows on a permanent basis since 1992 and applied for a lawful development certificate in 2002. Relying on the Nicholson and the North Devon cases, the council claimed that the breach was not for a continuous period of 10 years as occupation was permitted every March to November.
Mr Justice Sullivan distinguished these cases as neither was concerned with a seasonal occupancy condition. Statements in those cases about the need for a continuous breach, while appropriate where it is possible to have non-compliance throughout the year, are 'wholly inappropriate where non-compliance throughout the year is impossible'. He stated that the council could have issued an enforcement notice after 14 March in any year in respect of the breach of condition over the previous winter, even though the occupation had ceased to be in breach. The judge derived support for this from the statement in the Thurrock case that enforcement action can be taken although a breach has temporarily ceased.