Swansea City & County of v Griffiths and Another
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Waller |
| Judgment Date | 31 March 2004 |
| Neutral Citation | [2004] EWCA Civ 398 |
| Date | 31 March 2004 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Docket Number | Case No: C3/2003/2177 |
[2004] EWCA Civ 398
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE LANDS TRIBUNAL
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand,
London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Waller
Lord Jusice Latham and
Lord Justiceneuberger
Case No: C3/2003/2177
Milwyn Jarman, QC (instructed by DM Laycock, Swansea) for the Appellant
John Blackmore (instructed by John Collins & Partners, Swansea) for the Respondent
Lord Justice Latham:
This is an appeal from a determination of the Lands Tribunal dated the 22 nd August 2003. The reference was to determine the compensation payable to the respondents by the appellant, which is the successor to the acquiring authority under a compulsory purchase order made on the 3 rd May 1994 and confirmed by the Secretary of State for Wales on the 4 th October 1995. It related to two freehold parcels of land at Llansamlet, Swansea which vested in the appellant's predecessors as the acquiring authority on the 27 th February 1996, the agreed valuation date for the purposes of the reference. The member valued the land at £500,000 on the basis, leaving aside immaterial matters, that the land had the benefit of planning permission for residential development capable of being implemented within two years. He rejected the appellant's argument that no development would have been likely within ten years. The appellant appeals on the single ground that in coming to his conclusion, the member wrongly took into account matters which post dated the date of valuation.
The land
The land which was the subject of the compulsory purchase order consisted of two separate parcels of land in an area known as Tawe Vale to the north east of Swansea City centre. The two parcels of land were separated by a railway embankment. The smaller parcel, of just of 0.42 hectares (1.04 acres) had no development potential. The larger parcel was 5.31 hectares (13.12 acres) in extent. It had a frontage of about 340 metres to a road, Walters Road, which provided ready access for development. It was approximately half a mile north of the residential settlement of Llansamlet. At the valuation date, both areas of the land were laid to grazing and were used for agricultural purposes.
Planning history
The structure plan covering the land at the time of the valuation date was the West Glamorgan Structure Plan (No 2) . So far as relevant, the County Council's housing strategy as set out in the statement contained the following element:
"i. Release of sufficient land to permit the development of 20,000 new dwellings in the County by 2006, on a wide range of sites to meet local needs, avoiding valuable landscape, ecological and heritage features. ….."
The relevant polices were as follows:
"Policy H1:
Land will be made available for the development of approximately 20,000 new dwellings in West Glamorgan during the period mid-1991 to 2006 distributed by district as follows:
Swansea 9,200
…..
Policy H2:
The development for housing of derelict vacant or underused sites within existing urban areas will be encouraged, subject to there being no overriding local planning, environmental or highway considerations.
…….
Policy H3:
Within Swansea sufficient land will be made available to enable development up to the year 2006, as follows:
(i) Approximately 7,600 new dwellings in north, east and central Swansea on a wide range of sites throughout the area, including Tawe Vale."
The local plan was the Swansea Local Plan adopted by the appellant in December 1989. It covered the period to the end of 1991, but made it clear that many polices would continue thereafter. The relevant policies were E2 and H1.
Policy E2 provided:
"It is the policy of the City Council that further land adjacent to the enterprise zone, north of Llansamlet be reserved as a contingency site for major redevelopment schemes."
Policy H1 provided:
"It is the policy of the City Council that the sites indicated on the proposals map and in the land supply schedule be allocated for residential development in order to meet the land supply requirements set out in the structure plan alteration No 1…."
The south west part of the land was identified as subject to Policy H1; and the majority of the remainder of the land was shown as subject to policy E2. The explanatory text to policy H1 that stated:
"Land north of Llansamlet adjacent to the proposed industrial contingency site proposed in Policy E2 has residential development potential as part of an overall comprehensive redevelopment scheme. The land is not required to meet current local plan need estimates but it will be required in the longer term. The areas are indicated on the proposals map and it is intended that the piecemeal development in the short term should not be allowed to prejudice longer term comprehensive development."
The Local Plan Review was published by the Director of Planning in April 1995, and was subject to consultation at the valuation date. It identified the land as part of the area it described as Swansea Vale which was subject to a development scheme involving the provision of housing, employment and leisure facilities.
The development scheme
Originally described as the Tawe Vale Development Strategy, it was described in the appellant's proposals of August 1991 as being a key element in the appellant's strategy for the east of the city. It set out proposals for a mixed development of business, housing, and a golf course together with a new infra structure of roads necessary to service the proposed development. As far as housing was concerned in the area near Llansamlet it said:
"New housing areas will be attached to Llansamlet and a more self contained "village" built at Tregof Farm, north of Llansamlet."
The scheme proposed that the land with which we are concerned should be used for golf and other leisure uses. This was the scheme which formed the basis of the application for outline planning permission for the whole of the land covered by the scheme which was granted to the Welsh Development Agency on the 17 th March 1994. It gave outline permission for "mixed development for residential, leisure, commercial, industrial, hotel and community usage". It included the following conditions:
"01. No part of the development hereby permitted shall be carried out otherwise than in accordance with detailed plans and drawings showing the siting, layout, design, external appearance and means of access in relation to each phase of the development. These details should be approved by the local planning authority before any development in that particular phase is commenced.
…
03. The development to which this permission relates must be begun not later than whichever is later of the following dates (i) the expiration of three years from the date of this outline permission or (ii) the expiration of two years from the final approval of the matters reserved in condition (01) hereof, or, in the case of approval on different dates, the final approval of the last such matter to be approved.
04. The development hereby permitted should be implemented in accordance with the phasing programme which shall be agreed with the Local Planning Authority, in consultation with the County Council's Highway Authority. Each phase of the development shall be in accordance with detailed development briefs which should be prepared for each parcel of land and which shall be in accordance with the Tawe Vale Development Strategy
…."
It was on the basis of this planning permission that the compulsory purchase order was made and confirmed.
The issues before the Tribunal
The three relevant issues identified by the member were:
"1. The application of Sections 14 to 16 of the Land Compensation Act 1961, and in particular (a) whether the outline planning permission of 17 th March 1994 can be taken into account (b) whether any other permission is to be assumed under these provisions.
2. If the outline planning permission can be taken into account, whether details would have been approved under it for development of the subject land separately from other land, what development would have been approved, and when it would have been implemented.
3. Whether, in the absence of the scheme planning permission would have been granted for the development of the subject land, for what development, and when."
The evidence
The evidence relevant to the appeal can be relatively shortly stated. The respondent's expert Mr Muir and the appellant's expert Mr Scoot essentially agreed that if the valuation of the land was to be on the basis of either actual or deemed planning permission for residential development, up to 60 houses could be accommodated, the constraining feature being the width and alignment of Walters Road. The dispute between them which is relevant to this appeal was as to the time scale within which such development could be implemented. Mr Muir was of the view that the land was the most suitable land in the vicinity for development. On the assumption that it already had outline planning permission, detailed approval would have been received for such a development within twelve months; if the assumption was that a fresh application had to be made, then detailed permission would have been granted within 18 months. Mr Scoot considered that the emphasis throughout all the planning documents was on phased development and that, accordingly, it would be unlikely that the land could have been developed for at least 10 years. It was a site outside the envelope of any existing community and would...
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Decision Nº ACQ 459 2010. Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), 03-05-2012
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