18 St John Street’s Elisabeth Tythcott was successful in a Court of Appeal case relating to a plot of land within the Great Jackson Street Development Framework in Manchester. Judgment was handed down today (19th May 2025) in the case of Great Jackson St Estates Limited -v- The Council of the City of Manchester. Elisabeth was led by Timothy Morshead KC and instructed by Manchester City Council.
Manchester City Council (MCC) is the freehold owner of a plot of land known as Plot G within the Great Jackson Street Development Framework and is also the local planning authority. Great Jackson St Estates Limited (GJSEL) are the lessee of the Site and the Lease has approximately 60 years left to run.
GJSEL has planning permission to build two 56 storey towers on the Site which would contain a total of 1,037 apartments. The development would cost something in the region of £350M. The terms of the Lease do not permit GJSEL to carry out the development and so GJSEL made an application to the Upper Tribunal to modify 11 of the covenants contained in the Lease pursuant to s84(1)(a) and/or s84(1)(aa) and/or s84(1)(c) of the Law of Property Act 1925.
MCC objected to the application on the grounds, amongst other things, that there was a real risk that the development would not be completed in a timely fashion or not completed at all. MCC argued that the covenants were not obsolete, that they secured practical benefits of substantial advantage to it and that modification of the covenants would cause it injury.
The application was dismissed by the Upper Tribunal and GJSEL applied to the Upper Tribunal for permission to appeal its decision in relation to ground (aa) only. Although that application was refused, the Court of Appeal granted permission to appeal.
The appeal was heard on 30 April 2025 by Lady Justice Asplin, Lord Justice Baker and Lord Justice Nugee. In its judgment handed down on 19 May 2025 the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. GJSEL now has 28 days in which to apply for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2025/652.html&query=(Neutral)+AND+(Citation)+AND+(Number:)+AND+(.2025.)+AND+(EWCA)+AND+(Civ)+AND+(652)
Elisabeth Tythcott is a member of the Business & Property department at 18 St John Street Chambers. For more information, please contact Chambers Director, James Parks or Senior Clerk, Katie Brown – 0161 278 1800 or via email BandP@18sjs.com