The Court held that only one of five separately leased portions of a two-lot site enjoyed existing use rights (for wrought iron manufacture at No. 709), and that the whole site could not be treated as a single unit for existing use purposes where distinct portions had been separately leased to different tenants for different uses over fifty years. The Court limited the presumption of regularity in existing use cases, holding it should not be applied merely because private occupants used land in a manner requiring consent, but should be confined to cases where a public authority took subsequent steps dependent on a prior consent having been granted. In obiter, the Court expressed the view that existing use rights are likely lost when a subsequent planning instrument makes the previously prohibited use permissible, reasoning that the transitional protective purpose of existing use rights ceases when the prohibition is lifted.
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