Arevik Jackson represented the Appellant client in an appeal against an Enforcement Notice issued by Oxfordshire County Council.
At the heart of the appeal was the issue of whether the appeal site, which formed part of a former coal yard with multiple business occupants, comprised part of a mixed use.
The Inspector found there to be limited delineation between the various areas of the site to the effect that the precise area of land used by a particular tenant was subject to change.
The Appellant argued and the Inspector agreed that the evidence established a significant degree of fluidity in terms of the way the former coal yard was used.
In line with the Appellant’s stance, the Inspector disagreed with the parallels drawn by the Rule 6 party with Church Commissioners v SSE & Gateshead MBC [1996] 71 P. & C.R and recognised that the degree of control exercised by the owner over the former coal yard, the ease with which tenants could expand or contract their areas of occupation, the limited physical delineation between the different activities within the site, the sharing of the access, parking areas and the weighbridge all meant that, as a matter of fact and degree, the former coal yard formed the appropriate planning unit, being in a mixed use.
In line with the Appellant’s argument, the Inspector concluded that the notice was invalid beyond correction.
The Inspector allowed the Appellant’s application for a full award of costs against the Council and refused the Council’s application for a partial award of costs against the Appellant.
Join our mailing list if you want to be kept up to date with our future seminars & conferences.
