JOHN WARDLAW HANBURY-TENISON v MONMOUTHSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
Decision date: 2 December 2014
Neutral citation: [2014] UKUT 531 (LC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This appeal concerned a preliminary issue on valuation of compulsory acquisition of shooting rights over two fields taken to enable relocation of Abergavenny livestock market and town‑centre redevelopment. The Tribunal held that any significant premium over the intrinsic sporting value that derived solely from the Council's redevelopment scheme must be disregarded under the Pointe Gourde principle, and rejected the claimant's counterfactual reconstruction that a private developer would have produced the same enhancement. Quantum was left to be agreed or determined in light of that conclusion.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
When valuing land or rights under Rule 2 of section 5 of the Land Compensation Act 1961, enhancements in value that are attributable solely to the acquiring authority's scheme must be disregarded; only value increases that pre‑existed or were independent of the scheme are compensable. Counterfactual reconstructions that rely on speculative or virtually impossible sequences of events (for example substituting a hypothetical private developer for the acquiring authority) are not an appropriate means to create a ransom value.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The Tribunal indicated that evidence of events that did occur may be used as indicia of what might have happened absent the scheme, but their probative value falls away the further they post‑date the scheme's inception. It also emphasized that the Pointe Gourde principle is a rule of statutory interpretation and should not be used to rewrite history by inserting hypothetical actors where doing so depends on unrealistic assumptions.