Hall & Company Ltd v Shoreham-by-Sea Urban District Council and West Sussex County Council [1964] 1 WLR 240
The point in plain English: Planning conditions must have a proper planning relationship to the development and must stay within the authority’s powers. A condition cannot be used as a back door to take private rights without proper statutory authority and compensation.
What the Court of Appeal decided
The permission required the developer to construct an ancillary road across its frontage and allow passage over it. The Court accepted that highway safety and the relationship with adjoining development were legitimate planning matters, but held the challenged conditions invalid because their effect went too far.
The judgments are an early and important statement of the principles later associated with lawful planning conditions: relevance to planning, relationship to the development and reasonableness.
Why it still matters
The statutory framework has changed and later authorities such as Newbury provide the familiar modern formulation, but Hall remains useful background on the limits of condition-making powers. See Planning Geek’s guide to planning conditions.
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