Vodafone Limited v Icon Tower Infrastructure Limited & Anor
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) |
| Judgment Date | 20 February 2025 |
| Neutral Citation | [2025] UKUT 58 (LC) |
| Date | 20 February 2025 |
| Year | 2025 |
| Counsel | Gardner Kc,Emer Murphy,Toby Watkin Kc,Wayne Clark,Matthew Henderson,Oliver Radley-gardner Kc |
Neutral Citation Number: [2025] UKUT 00058 (LC)
Case Number: LC-2023-000734
IN THE UPPER TRIBUNAL (LANDS CHAMBER)
IN THE MATTER OF A NOTICE OF REFERENCE
20 February 2025
TRIBUNALS, COURTS AND ENFORCEMENT ACT 2007
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS CODE – NEW AGREEMENT – renewal proceedings
– termination proceedings – preliminary issues – whether substantial breaches – whether
intention to redevelop – public benefit test - paras 31(4)(a), (c) and (d), Sch.3A,
Communications Act 2003
BETWEEN: VODAFONE LIMITED Claimant
-and-
(1) ICON TOWER INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED
(2) AP WIRELESS II (UK) LIMITED Respondents
Land at Steppes Hill Farm (also referred to as land at Steps Hill Farm/Steps Hill Wood),
South Street Road, Stockbury, Sittingbourne, ME9 7RB
The Chamber President, Mr Justice Edwin Johnson and Mrs Diane Martin TD MRICS
FAAV
13th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 22nd November 2024
Oliver Radley-Gardner KC and Emer Murphy, instructed by Osborne Clarke LLP, for the
Claimant
Toby Watkin KC, Wayne Clark and Matthew Henderson, instructed by Eversheds Sutherland
(International) LLP, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2025
2
The following cases are referred to in this decision:
Dellneed v Chin (1986) 53 P&CR 172
Teeside Indoor Bowls Ltd v Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council [1990] 2 EGLR 87
Brumwell v Powys CC [2011] EWCA Civ 1613 [2012] L.&T.R. 14
EE Ltd v Chichester [2019] UKUT 164 (LC) [2019] L.&T.R. 21
Palisade Investments Ltd v Collin Estates Ltd [1992] 2 EGLR 94
Dolgellau Golf Club v Hett [1998] L.&T.R. 217
Northampton BC v Lovatt (1998) 30 HLR 875.
London Hilton Jewellers Ltd v Hilton International Hotels Ltd [1990] 1 EGLR 112
Cunliffe v Goodman [1950] 2 KB 237
Betty’s Cafes Ltd v Phillips Furnishing Stores Ltd [1959] AC 20
Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd v Compton Beauchamp Estates Ltd [2022]
UKSC 18 [2022] 1 WLR 3360
R (on the application of Save Britain’s Heritage) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government [2010] EWHC 979 (Admin) [2011] Env. L.R. 6
S Franses Ltd v Cavendish Hotel (London) Ltd [2018] UKSC 62 [2019] AC 249
Humber Oil Terminals Trustee Ltd v Associated British Ports [2011] EWHC 20243 (Ch)
Heath v Drown [1973] 498
Evans v Marshall v Bertola [1973] 1 WLR 349
Shelfer v City of London Electric Lighting Co [1895] 1 Ch 287
Sunrise Brokers LLP v Rodgers [2014] EWCA Civ 1373 [2015] ICR 272
Software Cellular Network Ltd v T-Mobile UK Ltd [2007] EWHC 1790 (Ch)
Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited v University of the Arts of London
[2020] UKUT 248 (LC)
Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited v University of London [2018] UKUT
356 (LC)
3
Index
Introduction
Paragraphs 1-5
The conventions of this decision
Paragraphs 6-9
The parties
Paragraphs 10-11
Electronic communications apparatus
Paragraphs 12-14
The Vodafone Site
Paragraphs 15-18
The 2003 Agreement
Paragraphs 19-27
The Steps Hill Sites
Paragraphs 28-34
The Contribution Agreements
Paragraphs 35-45
The background to the Renewal
Proceedings and the Termination
Proceedings
Paragraphs 46-58
The Preliminary Issues
Paragraphs 59-61
Summary of the issues to be determined
within the Preliminary Issues
Paragraphs 62-72
The Pounds Hill Site Proceedings
Paragraphs 73-80
Confidentiality
Paragraphs 81-90
The factual evidence
Paragraphs 91-94
The expert evidence
Paragraphs 95-99
Points preliminary to the Preliminary
Issues
Paragraphs 100-102
Preliminary Issue (a) – analysis and
determination
Paragraphs 103-194
(i) Has there been a breach or have there
been breaches of the Alienation Clause?
Paragraphs 103-190
(ii) If the Alienation Clause has been
breached, and if the breach is only a
single breach, is a single breach
sufficient to engage Paragraph (a)?
Paragraph 191
(iii) If the Alienation Clause has been
breached, and if Paragraph (a) is
engaged, was the breach or were the
breaches substantial?
Paragraph 192
(iv) If Paragraph (a) is engaged, and if
there has been substantial breach of the
Alienation Clause, ought the 2003
Agreement to come to an end?
Paragraph 193
(v) Preliminary Issue (a) - conclusion
Paragraph 194
Preliminary Issue (c) – analysis and
determination
Paragraphs 195-338
(i) The planning issues
Paragraphs 195-225
(ii) Do the Claimed Works constitute
redevelopment of the land to which the
code agreement relates or any
neighbouring land, within the meaning
of Paragraph (c)?
Paragraphs 226-271
(iii) Is there a time limit within which
Icon must intend to carry out the
Claimed Works?
Paragraphs 272-278
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