Somerset Council v Peter Richards (Senior) & Ors

Facts

Somerset Council, the local planning authority, applied for a final injunction under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in respect of land adjoining 6 Oxen Lane, North Curry, Somerset, occupied as a residential traveller site. The Land had a long planning history: it was developed as a sixteen-pitch traveller site in 2004 without permission, an enforcement notice and stop notice were issued by the claimant's predecessor, Taunton Deane Borough Council, on 29 October 2004, appeals failed, and High Court proceedings culminated in a final injunction granted by Mrs Justice Sharp in October 2010. The site was subsequently cleared and remained unoccupied for many years. On or about 26 October 2024 traveller families re-entered the Land, imported hardcore, carried out engineering operations, installed fencing and brought on caravans and mobile homes. The claimant issued these proceedings on 18 June 2025; HHJ Picton granted interim relief and authorised alternative service on 21 July 2025, and Griffiths J made further directions on 2 February 2026. A retrospective planning application made by the first defendant was refused and his appeal was dismissed by a Planning Inspector on 1 June 2026. The claimant then renewed its application for final relief. Only the seventh and ninth defendants attended the trial.