Derek Kelly, R (on the application of) v West Oxfordshire District Council

Facts

The claimant, Derek Kelly, lives at Pembroke House in Oxfordshire, next door to Chalfont, 3 Wroslyn Road, the property of the interested party, Frank Creese. In March 2023 West Oxfordshire District Council granted the interested party permission for a garage/store in the rear garden, but the structure as built departed from the approved plans in its height and its proximity to Pembroke House's southern boundary. In January 2024 the interested party made two applications under s.73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990; that relating to the front and rear extensions to the main house was approved, while the retrospective application concerning the garage was refused by the Council's planning committee, against the officer's recommendation, on grounds of overbearing impact. An inspector allowed the interested party's appeal against that refusal, a decision the claimant is challenging in separate reserved proceedings. From April 2025 the claimant's solicitors pressed the Council to enforce against the works as built; the Council declined by letters of 17 June 2025 and 29 August 2025, and, after receiving a surveyor's report, wrote again on 12 February 2026 maintaining that position. The claimant sought judicial review of the refusal to enforce. Permission was refused on the papers and the claimant renewed his application at an oral hearing.