Travellers may be allowed to stay because of legal error - Essex

From the Yellow Advertsiser

TRAVELLERS may be allowed to remain on private land in Billericay because a planning inspector's decision was legally flawed, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mr Justice Lewis said Mary Flynn and Nora Sheridan, both former occupants of the illegal Dale Farm site, could legally challenge plans to evict them from land off of Oak Road.

He ruled they may have had 'implied' permission to stay there because the owner did not object to their presence, but a planning inspector failed to acknowledge this fact before blocking their appeal.
The judge overturned the inspector's decision and granted the women a judicial review.
Mrs Flynn and Mrs Sheridan lived on a pitch at Dale Farm from 2003 until 2011 when the site was evicted, at which time they moved to an access track which ran east from Oak Lane to Dale Farm.

Basildon Council issued enforcement notices on 19 caravans on the Oak Road access track in July 2012. The council claimed the Travellers were in breach of planning control and had changed the use of the land to 'residential' without permission.

Mrs Flynn and Mrs Sheridan attempted to appeal against the enforcement notice but a Government planning inspector decided in September 2012 they had no grounds because they did not legitimately occupy the land.

Mr Justice Lewis has now overturned the inspector's decision, saying it could be argued Mrs Flynn had an 'implied licence' to remain because the land owner, referred to in documents as Mrs Palmer, had never asked them to leave.

The judge wrote: “The [inspector] did, in my judgement, err in not considering whether Mrs Flynn had an implied licence.
“Mrs Flynn had stationed her caravan on the land in November 2011, some eight months before the enforcement notice was issued in July 2012. There was no evidence of any objection to her presence on the land over that length of time.
“Even if she had originally entered on the land as a trespasser it may be that, depending on the facts, the owner of the land had acquiesced and impliedly granted her a licence to remain and occupy the land at some date before the enforcement notice was issued.”

Basildon Council leader Tony Ball (Con) said the decision was 'hugely disappointing' and would lead to 'further delays and public expenditure'.

He said: “I have to say that I am surprised by this outcome, considering the land is privately owned and not owned by the council or by Travellers. I think that many residents will share our frustrations.

“It was the Planning Inspectorate's decision to now allow the appeal after we served the notices and this is their case.”