Citation(s) [1961] AC 636 Ruling court House of Lords | End date 1961 | |
Fawcett Properties Ltd v Buckingham County Council [1961] AC 636 is an land law case on planning. It is also relevant for the general principles to determine the certainty (and potential invalidity) of concepts, as found particularly in English trusts law.
Contents
Facts
Buckingham County Council gave permission for cottages to be built in an urban green belt, on the condition that ‘occupation of the houses shall be limited to persons whose employment.... is... in agriculture... or in forestry or in an industry mainly dependent upon agriculture’, as defined by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 section 119. Fawcett Properties Ltd argued this condition was void.
Judgment
The House of Lords held that the condition was valid because it followed the policy of keeping the green belt for agricultural population, similarly defined in the Housing Act 1936 section 115. The definition could not, without overwhelming evidence, be held void for uncertainty.
In the course of his judgment, Lord Denning said the following.