High Court Makes Important Ruling on Agricultural Buildings

This week the High Court (Lang J) handed down judgment in the case of R (Smolas) v Herefordshire Council [2021] EWHC 1663 (Admin). She applied the recent Court of Appeal judgment on Part 16 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 (GPDO), overruling part of her previous decision in the case of R (Marshall) v East Dorset DC [2018] EWHHC 226 Admin, holding that the Defendant Council was "bound to consider and determine" whether the proposed agricultural building was in fact permitted development for the purposes of Class A of Part 6 of Schedule 2 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015. The decision reverses the previous position in relation to Part 6 of Schedule 2 of the GPDO, which has pertained since the Court of Appeal decision in Keenan v Woking BC [2017] EWCA Civ 438.

The case will be important for the agricultural sector across the country and will be of interest to planning practitioners for the guidance which Lang J provides on Part 6 prior approval applications.

Daniel Stedman Jones acted for the Claimant, Mr Smolas.

The full judgment may be found here.