Tag Archive for 'travellers'

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Continued incompatibility

By NL on 11/02/2010. 15 Comments

Readers with a long memory (relative to the general standards of the 21st century) will recall that there was a finding in Connors v UK (2004) that the law that meant that travellers on Local Authority sites could be evicted without the court overseeing procedural safeguards was declared to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Such readers will no doubt also recall that the reason Mr Doherty in Doherty v Birmingham CC (July 2008) was refused a declaration of incompatibility (gateway A) by the House of Lords was solely because the objectionable legislation was to be replaced through the Housing and Regeneration bill, as it then … Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Possession. Tags: , , , , , .

Thoroughly premature planning injunction…

By NL on 23/10/2009. 4 Comments

Brentwood Borough Council v Ball & Ors [2009] EWHC 2433 (QB)

This was the hearing of an application for an injunction by Brentwood BC. The defendants were six gypsies who had together purchased a plot of land, called Plot 3, in 2009. This was designated agricultural land in Brentwood’s area.

At the time of purchase, the plot was subject to two enforcement notices from 2001, one of which required the removal of all touring caravans from the site, the permanent cessation of the use of the site for residential purposes and reinstatement of the site to a condition suitable for agriculture. That notice had not been enforced by Brentwood … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Possession. Tags: , , .

Of Car Parks, Caravans and Councillor's commitments

By NL on 13/09/2009. 0 Comments

The City & Council of Swansea v Christine Joyce (and others) Cardiff District Registry, Chancery Division 31 March 2009 7CF30099

This is an example of a post Doherty public law defence at first hearing, and one that succeeded where an alternative defence of estoppel didn’t.

Two Traveller families, the Joyces and the McDonaghs, had been camped on the car park at Swansea Enterprise Park, on various parts over the years (about 20). The car park was used as an overflow for events at the nearby Liberty Stadium. The Council had the freehold for the Enterprise Park. In May 2007, the Council sought to get the Joyces and McDonaghs to move … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Possession. Tags: , , , , .

Peverse incentive

By J on 02/08/2009. 0 Comments

We don’t usually cover gypsy & traveller planning permission cases, since they tend to turn on their own facts, but Rafferty and another v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another [2009] EWCA Civ 809 has one point of wider importance.

The appellants owned a site (comprised of two separate plots) at Reeves Ground. They did not move onto the site but applied for planning permission. That was refused, both by the local planning authority (North Somerset Council) and by the planning inspector.

Part of the reasoning of the inspector was that, because the appellants did not live on the land, any dismissal of their application would … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers, Possession and Regulation and planning. Tags: , , , .

Not seriously arguable

By NL on 13/07/2009. 5 Comments

Another case on post-Doherty public law defences was handed down on Friday. Stokes v London Borough of Brent [2009] EWHC 1426 (QB) concerned an appeal summary possession order made against a traveller in unlicenced occupation of a plot on a Brent traveller’s site.

Ms Stokes had lived at her mother’s plot on the site and had been on the waiting list. She moved onto a plot which contained a site office on part of it, but was not used as a caravan site, in about January 2007. In April 2007 Brent wrote to say that her trespass would not be tolerated. However, in October 2007, Brent wrote to say … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Possession. Tags: , , , , , .

Proposed separation of fact and law…

By NL on 04/06/2009. 5 Comments

The DCLG have issued a consultation paper on ‘dispute resolution’ under the (to be) amended Mobile Homes Act 1983 (which will also have effect for Travellers) The consultation paper can be downloaded from us [PDF]. How to respond is at the back of the document, but responses are required by 9 June 2009 (!)

Amongst the suggestions is the frankly bizarre suggestion that “fact finding role” in possession proceedings be dealt with by Residential Property Tribunals (RPTs) while the “legal role” will be dealt with by the County Court. The DCLG suggests this as a means of addressing residents’ concerns that landlords bring proceedings as a threat or bullying … Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Possession. Tags: , , , , .

The difference in Doherty?

By NL on 04/03/2009. 7 Comments

A Court of Appeal judgment expressly dealing with a post Doherty public law defence to termination of licence by Notice to Quit was handed down today. Doran v Liverpool City Council [2009] EWCA Civ 146 concerned a possession claim for a plot on a local authority travellers’ site.

Liverpool served Notice to Quit on the basis of alleged breach of licence conditions by ASB abd other breaches. The claim was defended on the basis that the allegations were denied or contested and that there was a public law defence to the decision to issue Notice to Quit. At County Court, summary judgment was granted, abeit that the judgment isn’t entirely … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Possession. Tags: , , , , .
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