The prosecutions were pursued privately by the council under Section 178 of theTownandCountryPlanningAct in which it as an "offence to wilfully obstruct" a local planning authority taking enforcement action.
The justices ruled that there had been no change of use within the section of theTownandCountryPlanningAct, which imposes a four-year time limit for taking enforcement action against breaches of planning control.
In 1935 London's regional planners proposed the Metropolitan Green Belt andthe 1947 TownandCountryPlanningAct encouraged local authorities to protect the land around towns and cities from building.