Dispute Resolution analysis: The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court has considered the test the court should apply when a party makes an application to add an additional party as a defendant to a counterclaim under CPR 19.2(2)(b). The court stated that the test to be applied is that which would be applied in an application to strike out a claim under CPR 3.4(2)(a) or (b) against a defendant, had the claim already been pleaded, and rejected a suggestion that there was a higher hurdle than this.

Planning analysis: In Satnam Millenium v SHCLG, the court quashed the Secretary of State’s decision to dismiss an appeal against a refusal to grant planning permission for a residential development of 1200 dwellings. Although the challenge was allowed on the basis of the Secretary of State’s approach to deliverability, the decision provides useful commentary on apparent bias at planning inquiries and at site visits.

Local Government analysis: How will the court approach determining who is responsible for the after-care of a patient detained under the Mental Health Act 1983? Barrister Tim Baldwin, of Garden Court Chambers, considers whether a recent Court of Appeal decision has clarified the issue of residence.

Dispute Resolution analysis: The court, in discharging an order which had been obtained without notice in breach of the claimants’ duty of full and frank disclosure, has provided a useful summary of the principles which govern the application of that duty, and also of the principles the court will apply when deciding whether or not to discharge an order obtained in breach of that duty. In doing so the court, as well as setting out various other useful guidance in relation to the correct practice when making such applications, has reaffirmed the important guiding/supervisory role that parties’ legal advisers will play when their clients are applying for relief from the court on an without notice basis. The decision is thus a helpful primer for practitioners who find themselves in these kinds of situations as part of their practice. Written by Leo Kitchen, senior associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP.

Planning analysis: In Warren Farm v Wokingham BC, the court quashed a local planning authority (LPA)’s decision refusing prior approval for a change of use from an agricultural building to use as a dwellinghouse on the basis that it was made out of time. The decision clarifies how to interpret the alternative time limits by which an LPA must make a decision on a prior approval application under Article 7 of the Town and Country Planning (England) (General Permitted Development) Order 2015, SI 2015/596 (GPDO).

Planning analysis: In Oates v SCLG, the Planning Court clarified the circumstances in which an enforcement notice must be treated as a nullity, as opposed to when it can be corrected. It also provided guidance on the circumstances in which decision-makers can determine that works constitute conversion as opposed to a rebuild of an existing building.

Law360, London: A London court has found that the operator of a Ghanaian oil field can successfully claim US$257m from industrial tube maker Vallourec over allegedly defective pipes if it can show it took action within a time frame agreed by the companies.

Law360, London: The victim of a phone-snatching in London has secured a court order compelling four companies offering digital asset exchange services to disclose documents tied to an alleged fraud perpetrated against them after £500,000 (US$667,000) in cryptocurrency was drained from his account.

Arbitration Analysis: The Commercial Court has found that on-demand bonds governed by English law were invalid in their places of performance (Italy and France) due to EU sanctions. Therefore, as a matter of English law, they were unenforceable. Alternatively, they would have been unenforceable as a matter of public policy. Siiri Duddington, Partner, Reema Shour, Professional Support Lawyer, and Eleni Achnioti, Associate at Hill Dickinson, explore the key implications of this decision.

Planning analysis: The court held that an inspector had correctly applied section 174(2)(b) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) in an appeal against an enforcement notice (EN). The inspector had identified that to make out a ground (b) appeal, an appellant is required to demonstrate that the alleged breach of planning control had not occurred within an enforceable period. The appellants had argued that a ground (b) appeal should succeed if, at the date of the issue of the EN, the alleged breach of planning control was no longer ongoing. The court agreed that, giving the statutory wording its ordinary and natural meaning supported the inspector’s analysis and adopting this approach could not support the appellant’s proposed construction of ground (b). This conclusion was buttressed by a contextual and purposive interpretation of the enforcement regime. Written by Rowan Clapp, a barrister at Cornerstone Barristers.

Planning analysis: In Friends of the Lake District v Lake District National Park Authority, the High Court upheld the grant of permission for a heritage tourism scheme at Elterwater Quarry, rejecting challenges based on the Sandford principle, travel plan enforceability and landscape impacts. The case confirms that authorities must give greater weight to conservation under section 11A(1A) of the 1949 Act but retain discretion to balance competing National Park purposes through reasoned planning judgment.

Planning analysis: In Turner v SSHCLG, the High Court held that for enforcement under sections 172 and 329(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) , 'premises' ordinarily means the whole planning unit, so fixing a notice conspicuously to a site's main entrance of a multi-occupier site validly serves occupiers. Practically, this confirms that local planning authorities can serve enforcement notices at a site's main access point without needing to affix copies within each individual occupier's compound, provided the notice is clearly visible and reasonably likely to come to occupiers' attention.