Waveney Mushrooms, Brick Kiln Lane, NR14 8PY

What was argued and what the tribunal found

The appellant, a body corporate comprising five independent mushroom growers, sought exemption from rating for a packhouse building under Schedule 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 as an agricultural building. The tribunal found that the building did not fall within any of the specific exemption paragraphs: it was not occupied together with agricultural land, did not form part of a market garden or nursery ground, and while mushroom growing constituted agricultural operations, these were carried on in buildings rather than on agricultural land. The tribunal rejected arguments for a liberal interpretation of the Schedule to accommodate unforeseen modern collective farming arrangements, holding that exemptions must be strictly construed and that Parliament must legislate if new categories are to be added.

Summary generated from the decision text and checked against it. The appellant was Waveney Mushrooms Ltd, represented.

Grounds argued

• Relief or exemption · decisive

Evidence

None from the ratepayer

Cases cited

The Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc v Andrew Ricketts (VO) [2023] UKUT 00001 (LC); RCN v DHSS [1981] Act 80; R (Quintavale) v Secretary of State for Health [2003] UKHL 13; Tunnel Tech Ltd v Reeves (VO) [2015] EWCA Civ 718

Hearing

11 May 2023