by Ian Walmsley | Sep 10, 2026
Pilkington inconsistent permissions is the classic authority behind the principle that implementing one planning permission can make an earlier permission incapable of further implementation where the two schemes are physically inconsistent. The case concerned overlapping permissions affecting the same land. Once a later permission for a bungalow had been implemented, the earlier permission could no longer be completed in accordance with its approved scheme.
by Ian Walmsley | Sep 10, 2026
Friends West Oxfordshire section 73 is an important High Court judgment on whether a section 73 permission can be granted after the underlying planning permission has expired, and on the use of an original permission as a fallback. The court quashed the section 73 permission. Because the approval of pre-commencement conditions was later quashed with retrospective effect, the works relied upon had not lawfully commenced the original permission. It had therefore expired before the council purported to vary its conditions.
by Ian Walmsley | Sep 10, 2026
Malvern Hills material start is a leading Court of Appeal authority on how little physical work may be needed to commence a planning permission. The court accepted that accurately pegging out part of an approved estate road could amount to an operation in the course of laying out or constructing a road. The important qualification is that the operation must genuinely be carried out as part of the permitted development rather than as a sham or token exercise.
