Segrue Investments Limited, R (on the application of) v Swindon Borough Council

Facts

The claimant, Segrue Investments Limited, owned a former HSBC bank at the Forum, Marlborough Road, Swindon, which it intended to convert to residential use. Two chargeable developments arose: prior approval under Class R permitted development rights for 15 apartments, granted on 11 November 2022, and planning permission for change of use from office to 3 apartments and 1 dwellinghouse, granted on 26 January 2023. Swindon Borough Council, as collecting authority, issued the First Liability Notice on 8 December 2022 and the Second Liability Notice on 17 February 2023, charging Community Infrastructure Levy of £125,274.64 on the footing that the claimant had not shown the building to be an "in-use building" — the branch having closed during the Covid-19 pandemic and permanently on 23 October 2020. The claimant never requested a review under regulation 113 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010, though officers repeatedly drew the 28-day deadline to its attention, and it submitted material after that deadline which the council's CIL manager nevertheless addressed on 1 February 2023. Years later the claimant produced a Valuation Office Agency appeal decision and a second CBRE letter confirming daily use of the safe and ATMs, and sought revised liability notices. Following the council's email of 4 July 2025 refusing to exercise any discretion, the claimant brought judicial review; Lang J ordered a rolled-up hearing.