Maidstone Borough Council v Langley Frank Beck and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice Sweeting |
| Judgment Date | 03 April 2023 |
| Neutral Citation | [2023] EWHC 787 (Admin) |
| Docket Number | Case No: QB-2020-004282 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
[2023] EWHC 787 (Admin)
Mr Justice Sweeting
Case No: QB-2020-004282
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Scott Stemp (instructed by Ivy Legal) for the Claimant
Rachel Sullivan (instructed by Irwin Mitchell) for the Defendant
Hearing dates: 24 March 2023
Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely at 10.30am on 3 April 2023 by circulation to the parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives (see eg https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2022/1169.html).
Introduction
This is my judgment on the Claimant's application to commit Mr Beck to prison for breaches of the Court's Order (“the Order”) dated 1 April 2021.
The Claimant is the Local Planning Authority pursuant to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) (“the 1990 Act”) for the Maidstone area.
On the 27th May 2014, the Claimant issued and subsequently served a planning Enforcement Notice pursuant to s172 of the 1990 Act.
There were two defendants. The Second Defendant, Mr Foot, has died. The First Defendant, Mr Beck, is the owner of land at Cotton Tree, Bell Lane, Boxley ME14 3EE (“the Land”) identified in a plan attached to the Order and a plan attached to the Enforcement Notice.
The land protected by the enforcement notice, and more recently the Order, is designated as Ancient Woodland and is subject to a Tree Preservation Order. It is a Special Landscape Area and forms part of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Enforcement Notice
The Enforcement Notice required Mr Beck to;
a) Stop using the Land for residential purposes;
b) Stop using the Land for stationing of caravans;
c) Stop using the Land for the storage of motor vehicles and motor-vehicle parts;
d) Stop using the Land for stationing of containers and portable buildings;
e) Stop using the Land for the storage of building materials;
f) Stop using the Land for the storage of waste, highway equipment and domestic items;
g) Remove from the Land all caravans, motor vehicles, motor-vehicle parts, containers, portable buildings, building materials, planting equipment, waste, highways equipment and domestic items; and
h) Demolish and permanently remove from the Land the hard surfacing shown in the appropriate position outlined in blue on plan B and resultant rubble, waste, material and debris from the land.
Mr Beck failed to comply with these requirements. Eventually the Claimant sought an injunction to require him to do so.
The Injunction
On 1 April 2021 Mr Beck was made the subject of an injunction order by the Court relating to unauthorised development at the Land of the sort which had been prohibited by the Enforcement Notice. The Order required that:
“1. From the date of this Order the Defendants (individually or together) shall not themselves (nor cause, allow or permit another to):
a) Occupy residentially for any period of time any caravan, mobile home, container or other temporary or permanent structure on the Land;
b) Bring on to the Land any caravan, mobile home, motor vehicles (save for the purposes of complying with the other terms of this Order), motor vehicle parts, storage containers, portable buildings, building materials, waste (including hardcore, rubble, aggregates, soil, road scalpings or planings, chippings, timber, green waste, scrap metals or other domestic or commercial waste or any other waste material as defined for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended));
c) Process any waste (including hardcore, rubble, aggregates, soil, road scalpings or planings, chippings, timber, green waste, scrap metals or other domestic or commercial waste or any other waste material as defined for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) on the Land;
d) Lay or expand any area of hardstanding on the Land without an express grant of planning permission for the same pursuant to the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended);
e) Spread any building materials or waste (including hardcore, rubble, aggregates, soil, road scalpings or planings, chippings, timber, green waste, scrap metals or other domestic or commercial waste or any other waste material as defined for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) on the Land;
f) Dispose of any materials or waste by burning on the Land;
g) Fell any trees on the Land otherwise than in accordance with a felling licence granted pursuant to the provisions of the Forestry Act 1967 (as amended) or an express grant of permission for the same pursuant to the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended).
2. After the date on which this Order is made, should any caravan, mobile home, plant, machinery, storage container or portable building within the Land marked red on the Plan attached to this Order be removed from the Land, the Defendants (individually or together) shall not themselves (nor cause, allow or permit another to) return the said caravan, mobile home, plant, machinery, storage container or portable building to the Land, nor allow any other caravan, mobile home, plant, machinery, storage container or portable building on to the Land in replacement or substitution of the same.
3. Within six months of the date of this Order the First Defendant shall:
a) Remove from the Land all caravans, motor vehicles, motor vehicle parts, containers, portable buildings, building materials, waste materials (including hardcore, rubble, aggregates, soil, road scalpings or planings, chippings, timber, green waste, scrap metals or other domestic or commercial waste or any other waste material as defined for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990), plant, machinery, highways equipment, and any domestic paraphernalia;
b) Demolish and permanently remove from the Land the hardstanding on the Land;
c) Remove from the Land all resultant rubble, waste, materials, and debris arising from compliance with requirements 3(a) and (b) above”
The Committal Application
Mr Beck failed to comply with the terms of the Order. The Claimant formed the view that he had no intention of doing so. The committal application was issued on 7 February 2022.
In a witness statement of 31 March 2022, responding to the application, Mr Beck set out the background to his activities on the Land:
“4. The Site is wooded with a number of trees, predominantly sweet chestnut coppice and birch. Since the mid-1980s, I have carried out various trades and activities on the Site including removing the trees, using the wood as logs and to make stakes and other fencing parts, selling timber from the Site, sorting and selling scrap metal and other recyclable scrap goods, bringing in, processing and selling building waste as well as general waste. I have brought in vehicles on to the Site either to refurbish them, to prepare them for export or to use them for parts. I have also operated a hard-core business from the Site and in the past rented parts of the Site out for similar businesses.
5. These activities have involved bringing the following on to the Site – hardcore, building materials, building waste, building products like fencing and windows, general waste and timber as well as mobile homes, caravans, containers, vehicles, machinery and tyres on the Site. I have also laid hardcore on the Site for access and my businesses. I have lived on the Site since I bought it since the 1980s and on a full time basis for 19 years.”
In later paragraphs he explained the steps he had taken to comply with the Order:
“29. I have a number of other valuable things on the Site. These include vehicles which could be refurbished or reused for scrap, fencing material and windows. I am currently refurbishing a lorry which will assist me in taking items off the site. I have had security issues on the site and people have burnt waste on my land. People have tipped rubbish onto my land and I have had to install gates to stop this from happening. I understand that I can do these under the permitted development rights.
30. I have also halted all my businesses since I received the Order and I have not been able to earn an income. Prior to the Order, I had stopped taking in household waste. I have also cleared away waste including removing all the fridges and freezers and have removed all of the vehicles not belonging to me as well as the caravan. I have stopped allowing people to work on the Site and have told people that I am no longer able to provide storage facilities or accept household waste. I have not chopped down any trees since the Order.
31. I ordered 3 portacabins to put on my house on the Site because the roof was leaking badly. The portacabins were ordered before the Order and because of the leak, I had to install them. Apart from this, I am complying with paragraphs 1(b) to (g) of the Order and according to paragraph 2 of the Order; I do not intend to return these things to the Site until this matter is resolved.
32. Specifically since 1 April 2021, when the Order was made, I have tidied up the Site by putting materials and scrap metals in piles instead of leaving them lying about. I cannot get on effectively with clearing the Site because the Order prevents me from burning waste and wood or from doing anything that the Council might interpret as levelling the Site. The Second Defendant's son, following Mr Foot's death, has taken time off work in February and March 2022 to clear some of his father's belongings including a tractor and 6 to 7 motor vehicles in compliance with paragraphs 1(b) to (g) of the Order. He has not taken all of his father's things off the Site.”
It seems evident that at...
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