Abstract
The concept of development for the purposes of s.55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is a jurisdictional one: its purpose is to establish the threshold of a local authority's powers to control land use. In the absence of cognisable development landowners enjoy such powers as the common law bestows to use land as they see fit. This embraces a right to undertake activities which cause harm to neighbouring land where these fall short of a public or private nuisance. This means that the law tolerates the infliction of some injury to the enjoyment of neighbouring land provided no statutory or common law rule is thereby infringed. Certain limited detrimental activity cannot, by itself, trigger the intervention of either the aggrieved neighbour, nor of the State. Development falling within the definition of section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 thus establishes the powers of the local planning authority to control the detrimental activity.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 895-903 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Planning and Environment Law |
Publication status | Published - Oct 1997 |