Britannia Assets (UK) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Anor [2011] EWHC 1908 (Admin)
The point in plain English: A lawful planning use can be abandoned. Once that happens, the landowner cannot simply revive it as a fallback whenever convenient.
What happened
The case concerned the former Thameside petroleum terminal in Kent. The site had long enjoyed a permission for storing and distributing petroleum products, but that use ceased. Tanks and associated infrastructure were removed and the site was subsequently divided into plots for a range of new commercial activities.
Enforcement notices were served against the new uses and operational development. The owner argued, among other things, that it retained a wider lawful storage and distribution fallback.
What the High Court decided
Wyn Williams J dismissed the appeal. The Inspector had been entitled to conclude that the historic petroleum use had been abandoned. The court referred to the familiar factors of the site’s physical condition, the period of non-use, intervening uses and the owner’s intentions, assessed objectively.
The court also rejected an attempt to interpret a 1962 permission by reference to the much later 1987 Use Classes Order. The legal context in force when the permission was granted mattered.
Why Britannia Assets matters
The judgment is useful where somebody says an old lawful use can simply be restarted because it was once permitted. The real question is whether that use has survived or has been abandoned on the facts.
Planning Geek explains the modern approach on our abandonment of use page.
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