LandClaim for possession - claimant having licence to carry out surveys of land - trespassers in occupation - claimant nothaving sufficient control to obtain orderCountryside Residential (North Thames) Ltd v Tugwell: CA(Aldous, Waller LJJ, Rougier J):6 March 2000

The claimant was granted a licence to carry out 'surveys and technical' iin woods prior to obtaining planning permission to develop the site.

The defendant and some friends, concerned for the great-crested newts and wildlife in the woods, had occupied the site before the claimant came onto the site through its technical consultants.

The district judge granted the claimant an order for possession of the site under RSC, Ord.113.

The judge dismissed the defendant's appeal.

The defendant appealed.Matthew Hutchings (instructed by Richard Buxton, Cambridge) for the defendant; Christopher Falvey, solicitor, (instructed by Taylor Vinters, Cambridge) for the claimant.Held, allowing the appeal, that not every licensee who had some right of access to the land had the rights of possession required to eject trespassers; that the only licensee who had that right was the licensee who had the right of 'effective control' of the land in the sense of having the right of occupation; that it was important not to confuse contractual rights, in relation to which the developers might have rights against any person who sought to interfere therewith, with the right of possession, which was the foundation of an RSC, Ord.

113 remedy; and that, therefore, a licence granted to developers for the purposes of access to land to carry out surveys and technical investigations prior to obtaining planning permission did not provide effective control over the land for the purpose of obtaining an order for possession against trespassers.