Connors and Others v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Lindblom |
| Judgment Date | 01 March 2016 |
| Neutral Citation | [2016] EWCA Civ 849 |
| Date | 01 March 2016 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Docket Number | C1/2014/2651 |
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Lindblom
C1/2014/2651
Mr A Masters (instructed by Lester Morrill) appeared on behalf of the Applicants
Mr S Whale (instructed by Government Legal Department) appeared on behalf of the Respondent
(Draft for approval)
Before the court are four renewed applications for permission to appeal, in four conjoined challenges to the decisions of the respondent, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, dismissing appeals relating to proposals for a material change of use of land for the siting of caravans for gypsies and travellers.
All of these challenges were rejected by Lewis J. on 11 July 2014. I need not recite the detail at this stage. Progress towards today's hearing has been very protracted and has involved some adjustment to the grounds on which the appeals are proposed to be based. Permission to appeal was refused on the papers by Sullivan L.J. on 30 July 2015.
The court has had drawn to it attention a number of other proceedings at first instance including the decision of Gilbart J. in Moore and Coates v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015] EWHC 444 (Admin), the decision of Mr Mark Ockelton, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, in Connors v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015] EWHC 334 (Admin), the decision of Mr John Howell Q.C., sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, in Smith v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015] EWHC 784 (Admin), and the recent decision of Cranston J. in Mulvenna and Smith v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2015] EWHC 3494 (Admin).
Having heard argument this morning presented Mr Alan Masters on behalf of these four applicants, and in resistance the submissions of Mr Stephen Whale on behalf of the Secretary of State, I have concluded that permission to appeal ought to be granted in this case.
I have reached that decision with some hesitation and some misgivings. Nevertheless, I am persuaded that it is properly arguable, and there is a real prospect of success for the argument, that not merely in the procedural context but also in the substantive the Secretary of State's decisions in these cases were affected and, as Mr Masters contends, vitiated by the written ministerial statements of 1 July 2013 and 17 January 2014 which were...
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