Court of Appeal clarifies scope of Murfitt principle

The Court of Appeal ([2024] EWCA Civ 467) has upheld the decision of Lieven J in Caldwell v SSLUHC [2023] EWHC 2053 (Admin) that an Enforcement Notice enforcing against a material change of use cannot require the removal of operational development which is the “source of or fundamental to the material change of use”. So, for operational development to be within the scope of an Enforcement Notice enforcing against a material change of use, it must be subordinate or secondary to, the change of use. The Murfitt principle cannot be used to justify the removal of a building or other operational development which is a “separate development in its own right”.

Zack Simons and Nick Grant appeared for the Secretary of State.

The judgement can be found here.