Cases - Westminster City Council v British Waterways Board
Record details
- Name
- Westminster City Council v British Waterways Board
- Date
- [1984]
- Citation
- 3 AII ER 737
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Planning control - Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
- Summary
-
Westminster City Council had a lease of land that it used primarily as a street-cleansing depot. The use entailed a mixed and fluctuating use of land and buildings for workshops, offices, stores, staff facilities, and parking for street cleaning and other vehicles. The land was part of a large site owned by British Waterways who wished to terminate the Council's lease on the ground (under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954) that they intended to occupy the premises for their own business of a marina. Planning permission would be required for this use. The Council objected that such permission would not be forthcoming as it would be desirable to preserve the existing street cleansing use.
In the context of determining the scope of an established use, Lord Bridge said that it is necessary to answer two questions of fact:
'First, what is the precise character of the established use? Second, what is the range of uses sufficiently similar in character to the established use to be capable of replacing the established use without involving a material change?'
The House of Lords held that the current use was not restricted to a street-cleansing depot as the identity of the occupier who carries on the use is irrelevant.
There was a mixture of uses that could be carried on by a wide variety of businesses operating some kind of vehicular transport. It was of no relevance to inquire what purpose the vehicles were used for when they left the site. Therefore the Council's real ground of objection was not the desirability of preserving a particular use, but the desirability of preserving their own occupation. This is not a legitimate planning ground.