Titchfield Festival Theatre

Planning Enforcement action taken against the Arden Theatre at the Titchfield Festival Theatre site, St Margarets Lane:

2023 

In May 2023 the Council became aware that a new, 450 seat theatre had been built, without planning permission, in the buildings behind the existing theatres at the Titchfield Festival Theatre site at St Margaret's Lane. 

The two other theatres at the site – the Oak Theatre and the Acorn Studio – were built with planning permission and are authorised. 

The Arden Theatre is different: it was created and brought into use without planning permission.

Following the discovery of the Arden Theatre, Planning officers advised Titchfield Festival Theatre that the new theatre did not have planning permission and that works should stop immediately.  Despite this, the theatre was completed and brought into use.

Why did the Council take planning enforcement action?

The Council was very concerned at the large scale of the theatre use created in this out of centre location served by a country lane and the limited car parking provided to meet the needs of the theatre uses at this site.

What planning enforcement action did the Council take?

November 2023

The Council issued a Planning Enforcement Notice relating to the Arden Theatre.

The notice required:

• The use of the Arden Theatre as a theatre to stop, and
• The removal of specific items such as seating, stage and lighting and sound equipment, and
• The filling in of an excavated underground area.
• All of these actions were to be undertaken within specified timescales.

Titchfield Festival Theatre appealed against this planning enforcement notice to the Planning Inspectorate.

2024

In May 2024, a public planning inquiry was held before an independent Planning Inspector appointed on behalf of the Secretary of State. Both the theatre company and the Council presented evidence at the inquiry.

In August 2024 the Planning Inspector's decision was received.

The Planning Inspector dismissed the appeal and upheld the Council's planning enforcement notice.

The upheld notice required:

• The use of the Arden Theatre as a theatre to stop within two months, and
• The removal of specific items and the filling in of the excavated underground area within seven months.

The Council issued a public statement explaining the decision and confirming that the enforcement action did not affect the Oak Theatre or Acorn Studio.

Why didn't the use of the Arden Theatre cease in 2024?

In November 2024 Titchfield Festival Theatre brought a legal challenge against the Planning Inspectorate's decision in the High Court.

The challenge argued that the Planning Inspector had made errors of law when dismissing the appeal.

While a legal challenge is ongoing, the enforcement notice is put in abeyance, meaning the compliance deadlines do not take effect.

What was the High Court's decision?

On 16 April 2025 the High Court dismissed the legal challenge in full.

The judge found that:

• The Planning Inspector had not made any error of law, and
• The decision to uphold the enforcement notice was legally sound.

The Court also ordered Titchfield Festival Theatre to pay the Secretary of State's legal costs.

Why is the matter still ongoing?

2025–2026

After the High Court decision, Titchfield Festival Theatre sought permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

A Judge decided to hold a "rolled-up hearing", where the Court of Appeal would consider:

• Whether permission to appeal should be granted, and
• If permission to appeal was granted, it would hear the appeal itself at the same time.

The Court of Appeal hearing took place on 17 February 2026.

As with previous legal stages, this further legal challenge meant the timescales for complying with the planning enforcement notice were put in abeyance until the Court of Appeal issued its decision.

Court of Appeal judgment 26 March 2026

The Court of Appeal found that both the Planning Inspector and the High Court Judge erred in law. The Court of Appeal allowed Titchfield Festival Theatre's appeal and has quashed the Planning Inspector's decision from August 2024.

This judgment does not grant planning permission for the Arden Theatre. Instead, it means the planning appeal against the planning enforcement notice must be reconsidered by a different Planning Inspector at the Planning Inspectorate, using the Court of Appeal's interpretation of the law where they found the Planning Inspector and High Court judge had erred. 

As with previous legal stages, planning enforcement compliance deadlines remain in abeyance at this time.

Where does this leave things now?

• The Court of Appeal has allowed the appeal and quashed the previous decision by the Planning Inspector (not the decision made by Fareham Borough Council).
• The Court found the Planning Inspector and High Court Judge erred in applying a specific element of planning law in their decision making.
• The specific element of planning law relates to how decision-makers must consider what lawful uses existed before the unauthorised development took place, as if that development had never happened.
• The judgment does not grant planning permission for the Arden Theatre.
• The enforcement notice appeal will be re-heard by a different Planning Inspector. No details have been provided yet as to how the appeal will be redetermined or the date and location for a new inquiry.
• Until a new appeal decision is issued, the enforcement notice remains in abeyance.