The Court of Appeal has ruled that a council was entitled to block a Gypsy traveller from making a fresh planning application for land with a long history of enforcement action, in a decision that clarifies the reach of anti-abuse powers in the planning system.
In a judgment handed down on 17th April 2026, three appeal judges dismissed a challenge brought by Mr Moran against Medway Council, which had refused to determine his application for a residential caravan site at Sharps Green, Rainham.
The site had been the subject of repeated enforcement notices since 2017, two direct clearances by the council, and seven previous refusals to determine applications under section 70C of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Mr Moran bought the land in November 2020, after the latest enforcement notice had been served and complied with.
His September 2023 application sought permission for a change of use to residential, with caravans, mobile homes, day rooms and a stable. The council declined to determine it, relying on section 70C, which gives authorities the power to reject retrospective applications where granting permission would cover matters already specified in an existing enforcement notice.
Mr Moran argued that the power was designed only to prevent delays in enforcement action, and could not apply because the site had already been cleared. He also claimed the council had failed to take account of a shortfall in traveller pitches and had wrongly placed the site in a high-risk flood zone.
The Court of Appeal disagreed. Lord Justice Dove, giving the lead judgment, held that the purpose of section 70C is broader: to prevent an applicant from demanding ‘two separate considerations of the underlying planning merits’ of a breach. The fact that an enforcement notice has been complied with, he said, does not disable the power.
The court also found that an error over flood zone status did not undermine the council’s decision, which was based on multiple grounds, including harm to the rural character of the area and proximity to protected environmental sites.
The appeal was dismissed in full.
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