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United Kingdom

Planning enforcement appeals: strict PD54D service and 28-day limit; ground (a)/deemed permission challenges only via TCPA 1990 s 289, not s 288 (Herstmonceux Museum, England and Wales)

Published on: 15 September 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Planning expert
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Herstmonceux Museum Ltd v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Another [2025] EWHC 1863 (Admin)

What are the practical implications of this case?

This ruling reinforces how rigorously the courts insist on procedural exactitude in planning litigation, especially in relation to enforcement notices and related challenges. For developers, it stresses the need to grasp the narrow jurisdictional pathways: where a ground (a) appeal results in a deemed planning application, any challenge lies, if at all, under TCPA 1990, s 289 and not under TCPA 1990, s 288. Starting proceedings on the incorrect statutory footing invites the claim being dismissed at the threshold. Any attempt to proceed under the wrong statutory route risks the claim being struck out at the very outset.

For both developers and local planning authorities, the decision equally exemplifies the austere character of procedural obligations. The court reasserted that service must be effected strictly in line with Practice Direction 54D, and that a failure to serve correctly within the 28-day window is fatal. The court will regard delay or defects in service as intrinsically grave, and applications for relief from sanctions will seldom succeed given the statutory emphasis...

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