Enforcement Notice Quashed for a Fishing Lake in Maldon

In 2024, I successfully challenged an enforcement notice issued by Maldon District Council against the use of lakes at Hall Road/Battle Rise, Heybridge, Essex, for informal recreational fishing.

The enforcement notice was quashed in full.

The Planning Issue

Maldon District Council alleged that the use of the lakes for fishing constituted an unauthorised change of use and required the activity to cease permanently.

My client disputed this, and the appeal proceeded on two grounds:

• that the notice had not been correctly served, and

• that immunity from enforcement had been acquired through ten years of continuous use.

The central planning issue was whether the fishing use had taken place continuously for at least ten years prior to the notice being issued in November 2022, which would render enforcement action unlawful under section 171B(3) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

I assembled a substantial body of evidence in support of the appeal, including statutory declarations from past and present landowners and regular users of the site, some dating the use back as far as 1978.

I also presented correspondence between the Council and third parties from 2012 to 2016 which demonstrated awareness of the use during the relevant period.

The Council failed to submit any substantive evidence to contradict the appellant's case and did not respond to the Statement of Case.

The Inspector found the appellant's evidence sufficiently precise, unambiguous and persuasive to establish ten-year immunity on the balance of probabilities.

The enforcement notice was quashed and a costs award was applied for against Maldon District Council.

Planning Appeal Advice

If you have a development project and you have received a planning refusal, contact me for practical advice on whether an appeal is the right option and how to proceed.

Andrew Ransome MRTPI Email: andrew@adpltd.co.uk | Tel: 01206 242070

About me

Andrew Ransome is the planning director at ADP and is a chartered member of the RTPI, with over 22 years of town planning experience.

Andrew has extensive experience offering strategic planning solutions to challenging projects in both rural and urban settings. Follow him on Linkedin.

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