DB Symmetry Ltd and another v Swindon Borough Council [2022] UKSC 33
DB Symmetry highway planning condition is the Supreme Court authority confirming that a planning condition cannot compel a landowner to dedicate land as a public highway without compensation.
A condition may require roads to be constructed, but dedication of public highway rights needs the proper statutory or agreement route.
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- Neutral citation
- [2022] UKSC 33
- Court
- Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
- Judgment date
- 14th December 2022
- Judge
- Lord Reed, Lord Hodge, Lord Kitchin, Lord Sales and Lady Rose
What DB Symmetry decided
The case concerned a large development in Swindon and a planning condition dealing with access roads.
The council argued that the condition required the developer not only to construct the roads but also to make them available as public highways. The Supreme Court rejected that interpretation and dismissed Swindon’s appeal.
A planning condition cannot require dedication as highway
The court reaffirmed the long-standing Hall v Shoreham principle. Planning conditions cannot be used to require a landowner to dedicate land to the public as highway without compensation where Parliament has provided specific statutory mechanisms for that purpose.
This is more than a drafting preference. It is a limit on the lawful use of planning conditions.
Construction and dedication are different things
A condition can lawfully require the developer to construct an access road or carry out works reasonably related to the permitted development.
What it cannot do is convert that road into public highway merely through the condition. Public adoption or dedication normally requires a voluntary highways agreement, a planning obligation or use of statutory acquisition powers.
Planning Geek’s guide to highways agreements and licences explains the common section 38 and section 278 routes.
The Newbury tests still govern planning conditions
The judgment reaffirmed the familiar Newbury principles: a condition must serve a planning purpose, fairly and reasonably relate to the development and not be unreasonable.
But those tests operate alongside more fundamental limits on what a condition can lawfully require.
Interpret conditions objectively and in planning context
The meaning of a planning condition is assessed objectively. The reasonable reader is taken to understand the planning context and the relevant statutory framework.
That context was important here because a knowledgeable reader would recognise that highway dedication ordinarily requires a separate legal mechanism.
Use section 106 or highways legislation where appropriate
If public access or adoption is needed to make a development acceptable, the obligation should be secured through a lawful mechanism rather than by stretching the wording of a planning condition beyond its proper scope.
See also Planning Geek’s guide to section 106 agreements.
Read the full DB Symmetry judgment
The full Supreme Court judgment is held in the Planning Geek case law library. Gold Members can open the protected PDF below.
DB Symmetry Case Law Page Updated: 10th September 2026