British Railways Board v Secretary of State for the Environment and Others [1993] 3 PLR 125
The point in plain English: A negative condition is not automatically unlawful just because the applicant cannot itself guarantee that the event required by the condition will happen.
What the House of Lords decided
British Rail sought housing permission at the former Feltham marshalling yard. Access depended on land owned by Hounslow, which opposed the scheme. The Secretary of State treated a negative condition as unavailable because there was no reasonable prospect of the necessary access works being achieved within the life of the permission.
The House of Lords held that this was a misdirection. Grampian had not created an absolute rule that a negative condition is invalid whenever fulfilment looks unlikely. The question is whether the condition is otherwise lawful and reasonable in the circumstances. The practical prospects of implementation can still be relevant, but they are not an automatic jurisdictional bar.
Why it still matters
The case remains a central authority on negative or ‘Grampian’ conditions. See Planning Geek’s guide to planning conditions.
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