Tenants at an airfield contested their Landlord's notice to terminate their 1954 Act protected tenancies. The Landlord wished to promote the airfield site as a residential development. The Landlord served notice pursuant to ground (f) of the 1954 Act contesting renewal. This required the Landlord to demonstrate an intention to demolish/reconstruct the premises and also that it had a "reasonable prospect" of delivering upon that intention. The tenant argued that as the local authority's development plan was to retain and support aviation-related facilities at the airfield the necessary planning permission did not have a "reasonable prospect" of being obtained.
The High Court rejected the tenant's arguments and held that the development plan conferred a discretion on the decision maker not a mandatory obligation to retain airfield use. It also commented that planning control should not be used to force the landlord to reinstate aviation use.
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