Possession claims against trespassers (Pt I)

• When and how practitioners bringing possession claims against trespassers in the County Court under CPR Pt 55 might going about seeking injunctive relief in addition to a possession order.

In Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs v Meier & Ors [2010] 1 All ER 855, the Supreme Court held unanimously, affirming a 2–1 decision of the Court of Appeal, that a court might combine an order for possession of land made against trespassers with a prohibitory injunction restraining continued trespass onto the same land. In the author’s experience, however, it is rare that an injunction restraining trespass is sought in addition to an order for possession in possession proceedings against trespassers brought in the county court under Part 55 of the Civil Pocedure Rules (CPR). A recent case, which concerned repeated and wide-ranging acts of trespass onto a large plot of scrubland, afforded the