Category: Crown Court

‘An allegation of an offence in an information or charge must describe the offence in ordinary language and make it clear what the prosecutor alleges. Amendments to section 179 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) mean that it is no longer necessary, when prosecuting a defendant for non-compliance with an enforcement notice, to aver within the information the date upon which the period of compliance expired. The court held that the exact moment at which the compliance period expired was no longer of critical or defining importance. It is a necessary inference within an information that the date upon which the offence is said to have been committed, occurred after the period of compliance had expired. The prosecutor would still need to prove as a fact that the date for compliance had expired, but this fact was not essential to enable the defendant to understand what the prosecutor was alleging.’

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5SAH, 16th February 2021

Source: www.5sah.co.uk