Day,R (on the application of) v Shropshire Council [2023] UKSC 8 (01 March 2023)
Citation:Day,R (on the application of) v Shropshire Council [2023] UKSC 8 (01 March 2023)
Rule of thumb:If you buy land, and after you buy it discover that the land used to be used for recreational purposes by the general public, does this mean that you cannot get planning permission to build on the land & develop it? Yes, if the public has carried out recreational activities on private land, this can stop a person getting planning permission to develop it, so this should always be checked before land is bought.
Background facts:The basic facts were that land was purchased by a land-owner. The land-owner then applied for planning permission to build developments on this land, however, Day, a local resident challenged this the legality of this.
Parties argued:Day was able to go through newspaper archives to prove that this land had been used for recreation purposes for a long period of acquiescence so opposed the development, and then provided precedent showing that where this was the case the land could not be developed. The property owner argued that this was not registered in any property register, this was sporadically done at best by local residents, they were enhancing the local area, and the Council did not inform them of this before they bought it, so the planning permission should go ahead.
Court held:The Court upheld the arguments of Day and affirmed that the development could not go ahead. The Court for there to be a register of leisure & recreational use of land to prevent this occurring in the future, as well as allow people knowledge of private land which they could use for leisure & recreation purposes.
Ratio-decidendi:
‘… The Appellant, Dr Day, is a local resident who opposes the development. He and a number of other residents have formed the Greenfields Community Group. Dr Day did not know about the disposal of the land by Shrewsbury TC to CSE but he did know of the application for planning permission. He investigated the long history of the recreation ground using the Shrewsbury town archives and this, he thought, established that the land was subject to a statutory trust for the benefit of the public under either the PHA 1875 or the OSA 1906… I recognise that this leaves a rather messy situation in which CSE no doubt bought the land in the expectation of being able to develop it. But that is a consequence of Shrewsbury TC’s acknowledged failure to do the investigatory work that Dr Day did to establish the status of the land and hence the absence of any opportunity for Dr Day and his fellow local residents to object to the sale of the land before it was completed‘, Lady Rose at 6 & 116
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.