News and Insights

Case briefing: Guest v the Planning Minister

The recent case of Guest -v- the Planning Minister has shown the importance of keeping to the timetable as set out in the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 when bringing a planning appeal. Sadly, Mr. Guest lodged his proceedings just out of time and the Court was asked as a preliminary point whether the proceedings could proceed.

The Court weighed up the merits of his claim and further considered the rules. The Court compared the case with that of Mrs. Herold, who had asked the Viscount to serve notice of her appeal against a planning application lodged next to her cottage. The Court held in that case (in which the deadline for bringing an appeal was 14 days, a deadline which has since been extended by amendment to 28 days) that the appellant’s notice of appeal would have been served on time had the Viscount been able to serve proceedings that day. Her appeal was permitted to proceed. In short, the Court ruled that Mrs. Herold’s civil rights were engaged and that she had acted ‘timeously’ in bringing her appeal. Here the Court concluded that, even though their civil rights were engaged and they had an arguable case on the merits, Mr. and Mrs. Guest had not acted timeously from the date they became aware of the decision of the Planning Department. The rules were there to be followed; an appeal had to be lodged within 28 days of a permit being granted, there were no exceptional circumstances to justify an extension of the deadline and therefore the appeal was out of time.

You can read the full judgment here: Guest v Planning Minister judgment