Cases - Panayi v Secretary of State for the Environment and Hackney London Borough Council

Record details

Name

Panayi v Secretary of State for the Environment and Hackney London Borough Council

Date

(1985)

Citation

50 P&CR 109

Keywords

Planning control

Summary

The case concerned the use of four self-contained flats to provide accommodation for the homeless. The planning inspector had found that there had been a material change of use of the flats to a hostel. Mr Justice Kennedy held that it was open to the inspector to come to this decision because the change could give rise to important planning considerations and could affect, for example, the residential character of the area, strain the welfare services, and reduce the stock of private accommodation available for renting. The fact that, in the broadest sense, the property continued to be used for residential purposes did not mean that there could not have been a material change of use.