The High Court has continued the Sawbridgeworth planning injunction restraining unauthorised development on land off Sheering Mill Lane, including the powers of arrest attached by the court.
At a hearing on 15th September 2026, Mr Justice Lavender ordered that the injunction should continue until further order, with a final hearing to be listed on the first available date after 1st January 2027.
East Herts District Council had already used a Temporary Stop Notice, urgent High Court proceedings and a separate enforcement notice. The case is a useful example of how different planning enforcement tools can operate alongside one another.
What was happening on the land?
The High Court reporting adds useful context to why the case escalated so quickly. East Herts’ barrister told Mr Justice Lavender that the land was Green Belt, lowland fen and “particularly environmentally sensitive”. He said the council was concerned about removal of vegetation, trench excavation, spreading hardcore and erection of fencing.
The barrister also told the court that the “indication” was that members of the Gypsy-Traveller community wanted to create a Traveller campsite, and that the landowner had not granted permission for development. Those are submissions made on behalf of the council, not findings by the court on the planning merits.
BBC reporting from the August bank holiday described hundreds of residents gathering at the field in a peaceful protest while diggers were operating and truck-loads of material were being delivered. That community response is part of the chronology, but the legal basis for the injunction remains the court orders and the statutory planning-enforcement powers explained below.
What happened over the August bank holiday?
East Herts says it became aware of works on the land early on 29th August 2026 after reports from local residents. Heavy vehicles and construction equipment had entered the site.
The council served a Temporary Stop Notice shortly after 10:45am that morning and made an urgent application to the High Court.
An injunction was secured and served at about 10:30pm on 29th August. When work continued, the council returned urgently to court.
An amended injunction was granted and served at about 12:30am on 31st August 2026. Police then entered the site and those with unauthorised access left peacefully. East Herts records that no arrests were necessary.
The Sawbridgeworth planning injunction stays in force
The latest High Court order, claim KB-2026-003361, continues the injunction until further order.
Four people were added as named defendants and two were removed from the list of people to whom the injunction expressly applies. The order preserves the power of arrest attached to the injunction and provides for a final hearing on the first available date after 1st January 2027.
The prohibited conduct is wide. It includes development or preparatory works on the land such as clearance, hardstanding, roads and access works, gates and hedgerow works, bringing plant onto the land, stationing caravans or mobile homes, occupation connected with development and installing associated infrastructure, unless the council gives written permission.
Removed defendants can still face contempt consequences
The fact that two people were removed as named defendants should not be overread.
The court order warns that a person who is aware of the injunction and knowingly assists or permits a breach may also be liable for contempt of court, even if they are not a named defendant.
That does not mean the attached power of arrest automatically applies to every non-party. The arrest power is part of the court order and its precise scope must be read from the order itself.
Where do planning injunctions come from?
The council’s application relied on section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972.
Section 187B allows a local planning authority to apply to the court where it considers it necessary or expedient for an actual or apprehended breach of planning control to be restrained by injunction. The court then decides whether to grant the injunction and what terms are appropriate.
Planning Geek explains the wider remedy in our guide to planning injunctions.
An injunction is not the routine response to every planning breach. It is a court remedy used where the circumstances justify the additional restraint of a court order.
The police arrest power came from the court, not the council
The power of arrest is particularly important here.
The amended injunction records that the court attached a power of arrest under section 27 of the Police and Justice Act 2006. That provision allows a court, in qualifying local-authority injunction proceedings, to attach a power of arrest where the statutory conditions are met.
In the 30th August order, Judge Coppel considered the statutory test and concluded that the significant-risk-of-harm limb was satisfied. The reasons also referred to alleged repeated breaches of the earlier injunction and the judge’s view that attaching an arrest power might be the only effective means of limiting further breaches.
This distinction matters. East Herts did not itself give police a free-standing planning power to arrest people. The High Court attached the arrest power to its injunction.
Where a person subject to that power is suspected of breaching the relevant provision, a constable may arrest without warrant. The statutory scheme then requires the arrested person to be brought before the court promptly, normally within 24 hours.
Temporary Stop Notice, enforcement notice and injunction are different tools
Sawbridgeworth is useful because three enforcement mechanisms can be seen operating in the same case.
- Temporary Stop Notice: a rapid, short-term planning intervention intended to stop specified activity immediately while the authority considers what to do next
- Enforcement Notice: a formal planning notice requiring steps to remedy a breach, with statutory rights of appeal
- High Court injunction: a court order restraining conduct, breach of which can amount to contempt of court
One does not necessarily replace the others. Section 187B expressly allows an authority to seek an injunction whether or not it has already exercised, or intends to exercise, its other planning enforcement powers.
East Herts has separately served an enforcement notice requiring the landowners to restore the site to its former condition. The council’s 15th September update says that notice remains part of its enforcement response.
For the wider statutory framework, see Planning Geek’s planning enforcement guide and our guide to enforcement appeal grounds.
How does Sawbridgeworth compare with recent injunction cases?
Planning Geek has recently covered other section 187B cases, but the legal points should not be blurred together.
Blackpool BC v Beale is useful for the High Court’s treatment of injunctions and proportionality in an established enforcement dispute. West Berkshire v UK Land Holdings concerned the continuation of an injunction at Aldermaston.
Sawbridgeworth is particularly useful as a current practical example of a Temporary Stop Notice, urgent injunction, court-attached power of arrest and separate enforcement notice being used in combination.
What this does not decide
The continuation of the injunction is not agrant or refusal of planning permission for development of the land.
It is an interim court restraint pending the further proceedings identified in the order. Any planning merits, enforcement appeal issues or later court applications have to be dealt with through their own statutory or judicial routes.
Sources and documents
- East Herts, injunction continued on 15th September 2026
- East Herts chronology of the unauthorised works and enforcement action
- BBC, High Court hearing and continuation of the Sawbridgeworth injunction, 15th September 2026
- BBC, unauthorised work and community response at Sawbridgeworth, 30th August 2026
- High Court order dated 15th September 2026, KB-2026-003361
- Amended High Court order dated 30th August 2026, including reasons on the power of arrest
- Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 187B
- Police and Justice Act 2006, section 27
Created: 16th September 2026
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