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Supreme Court to hear case on implying condition into planning consent

The Supreme Court will next month hear a London borough’s appeal over whether a condition restricting the use of premises should be implied into a planning permission granted by the local authority; alternatively, whether the planning permission should be interpreted as containing such a condition.

The background to the case of London Borough of Lambeth (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and others (Respondents) is that in 2014 the appellant council received an application to vary a condition restricting the use of retail premises in Streatham, to expand the range of non-food goods that could be sold.

Lambeth granted a new planning permission, which did not include a condition restricting the use to the goods specified in the application.

In 2015 the second respondent, Aberdeen Asset Management, applied for a certificate of lawful use for unrestricted retail purposes.

Lambeth refused to grant the certificate, but the Secretary of State allowed the second respondent’s appeal.

The council’s application to quash that decision failed before Lang J. It also failed before the Court of Appeal in London Borough of Lambeth v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Ors [2018] EWCA Civ 844 (20 April 2018).

The case will be heard by the Supreme Court on 21 May 2019.

See also: Landmark Chambers’ summary of the Court of Appeal’s findings.

 

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