XPL Ltd, R (on the application of) v Harlow Council
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
- RHODRI PRICE LEWIS QC
Areas of Law
- Administrative Law
- Environmental Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
XPL Limited sought judicial review against Harlow Council's decision to serve a BCN for failing to comply with operating hours set in a planning permission for a coach park/depot. The court held the BCN was lawful and included starting a bus engine within its restrictions. The officer took material considerations into account. Several legal principles were reinforced, including the importance of reading planning permissions as a whole and the inclusion of commercial activities in the prohibitions stated in the conditions.
Judgment
RHODRI PRICE LEWIS QC :
Introduction
The Claimant, XPL Limited, is a bus and coach company and seeks judicial review against Harlow Council, the local planning authority for their area, in order to challenge the Council’s decision to serve a breach of condition notice on the Claimant alleging a failure to comply with condition 4 of the planning permission granted by the Council for the use of land known as Plot 17, Harlow Business Park, Roydon Road, Harlow as a “coach park/depot.”
The planning permission was granted on the 6 th July 2011. Eight conditions were attached. Condition 4 provides:
“ No repairs or maintenance of vehicles or other industrial or commercial activities (other than the parking of coaches or other vehicles associated with the Coach Park/Depot hereby permitted) shall take place at the site except between the hours of 8.00 am and 6.00 pm on Mondays to Fridays, 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, and not at any time on Sundays or public holidays, unless otherwise agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority.
REASON: To ensure that any industrial operations associated with the use do not prejudice the amenity of neighbouring residents and to accord with Policy BE17 of the Adopted Replacement Harlow Local Plan, July 2006 .”
Policy BE17 of that Local Plan provides:
“ Planning permission will be granted if noise sensitive developments are located away from existing sources of noise and potentially noisy developments are located in areas where noise will not be such an important consideration, or adequate provision has been made to mitigate adverse effects of noise likely to be generated or experienced by others.”
The Council served the breach of condition notice (“BCN”) the subject of this challenge on the 3 rd June 2014. In the usual form it identifies the relevant land and the relevant planning permission and specifies and sets out the condition which the Council considers has not been complied with. Section 5 of the BCN is headed “What you are required to do” and reads as follows:
“As the person responsible for the breach of condition specified in paragraph 4 of this notice, you are required to comply with the stated condition by taking the following steps:
Cease the running of engines of any passenger carrying vehicles (i.e. coaches and buses) at the site and associated with the coach park/depot (except where the vehicles are being moved onto the site to park) outside the permitted hours specified within condition 4. This