Appropriating land and overriding rights

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Section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (HPA 2016) confers powers to override easements and other rights benefitting the adjoining land in connection with development. See Practice Note: Section 203 powers—interference with rights for development purposes.

Section 203 came into effect on 13 July 2016 and extended and replaced powers set out in section 237 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990), by introducing that the power will apply where the local authority could acquire the land compulsorily for the purposes of development.

HPA 2016, s 203 (and its predecessor, TCPA 1990, s 237) has been relied on in high-profile developments to overcome rights of light and other easements or restrictive covenants threatening to prevent projects from progressing. In practice, where a particular development programme is at risk due to the inability to agree the release of certain rights, developers have requested that the local authority intervenes by using its powers to appropriate or acquire the development site to then trigger the power in HPA 2016, s 203. Once the site has

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Latest Planning News

Planning weekly highlights—9 October 2025

This week’s edition of Planning weekly highlights includes: analysis of the Court of Appeal’s decision quashing an injunction preventing the use of an Epping hotel for asylum seekers; a court decision clarifying the position on ambiguity in prior approvals; a court decision quashing planning permission over failure to consider an expert report; and a policy statement on hydrogen infrastructure strategic planning.

Chief Planner’s planning update newsletter for October 2025 published

The Chief Planner, Joanna Averley, has published the a planning update newsletter for October 2025, written for the chief planning officers at local planning authorities (LPAs). The newsletter contains details of preparations for the New Towns Unit to advance the next generation of new towns, following the government’s commitment to begin construction on at least three sites within this Parliament. It also highlights strong engagement with MHCLG’s consultation on infrastructure planning reforms, which will run until 27 October 2025, and reminds LPAs to submit their 2024–25 neighbourhood planning claims by 31 October 2025. The Planning Inspectorate reports early positive feedback on its new pre-examination checklist for local plans, introduced to streamline the submission process, while the Environment Agency continues to promote its new flood risk assessment template to support higher-quality planning applications. Additionally, the newsletter covers the launch of applications for the Digital Planning Improvement Fund, offering grants of up to £50,000 to support digital transformation in planning services, and previews the forthcoming Digital Planning Training Directory—a free resource to help planning professionals access education and training opportunities.

DESNZ publishes policy statement on hydrogen infrastructure strategic planning

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has published a policy statement outlining the government’s approach to how the National Energy System Operator (NESO) is envisaged to carry out strategic planning for hydrogen infrastructure. The statement clarifies government policy aims for NESO as it develops its hydrogen strategic planning capabilities, including NESO’s activities in delivering hydrogen strategic planning, how the government will consider NESO’s outputs and NESO’s development of other relevant hydrogen-related products. It follows the December 2023 Hydrogen Transport and Storage Networks Pathway, which confirmed that NESO would lead strategic network planning for hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure, with the government acting as interim strategic planner. The statement also explains how DESNZ will consider NESO’s hydrogen strategic planning when developing policy in relation to its hydrogen business models. While NESO will produce the first tangible outputs of its hydrogen strategic planning role in 2026, DESNZ will continue to have an ongoing role in the process as the decision maker for awarding business model support to hydrogen infrastructure projects.

Court clarifies scope of section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and resolving ambiguity in prior approvals (Dharmeshkumar v SSLUHC)

Planning analysis: In Dharmeshkumar v SSLUHC, the High Court confirmed that extensive refurbishment works amounted to ‘development’ under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) because they materially altered the building’s external appearance and so required express permission. The court also clarified that ambiguities in prior approvals can properly be resolved by reference to application documents and drawings, reinforcing that compliant elements remain authorised while only non-compliant works are vulnerable to enforcement.

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