R (Hourhope Ltd) v Shropshire Council [2015] EWHC 518 (Admin)
The point in plain English: For the CIL existing-building deduction, it is not enough that a building still has a lawful planning use available to it. The building must actually have been in lawful use during the relevant qualifying period.
What happened
The former Red Lion public house closed in May 2011 and was later destroyed by fire. When Hourhope obtained permission for residential development, it claimed a CIL deduction based on the floorspace of the former pub.
The developer argued that the pub use had not been abandoned and that furniture and fittings left inside also amounted to continued lawful use or storage.
What the High Court decided
HHJ David Cooke dismissed the claim. The CIL Regulations required actual lawful use, not merely the existence of a lawful use which could theoretically be resumed. The council was entitled to find that use as a public house had ended when trading stopped with no fixed or realistic date for reopening.
Leaving furniture and fittings behind did not create a separate lawful storage use. Storage had only been ancillary to the pub use, and the council could conclude that the items had simply been left behind rather than being actively stored.
Why Hourhope matters
The case is important when calculating CIL on redevelopment sites containing vacant or recently closed buildings. A historic planning use and an actual period of lawful use are not the same thing.
See Planning Geek’s Community Infrastructure Levy guidance for the current calculation rules.
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