Car-park saga goes full circle

Press, 30 September 1988, Page 6

Car-park saga goes full circle

By

KAY FORRESTER

It began four years ago when the Canterbury Club considered adding more car-parking space to its Worcester Street site. The space was intended for the use of club members. The club argued that parking was an accessory use of the site as a place of assembly. The other point of view argued was that parking was only an accessory use where the motorist was actually using the club, not when parked there for business elsewhere. To clarify that matter, the club sought a Planning Tribunal ruling under the Town and Country Planning Act. The tribunal found that the extra parking could only be used by those entitled to do so while they remained on the land. That meant the carparks could only be used

while the motorist was in the club, not for business or shopping in town. The club appealed against the ruling to the High Court, which decided that parking was part of the membership of the club and therefore an accessory use. A neighbour of the club, Schultz Knight and Associates, appealed against that, ruling to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court ruling and supported the Planning Tribunal’s finding. However, the Court of Appeal accepted as part of its ruling that people parking on the club site while using the club might also do other business in town. The situation then is much the same as four years ago. Members use the club parking spaces and may or may not use the club at the same time.