Mid-Sussex District Council has formally rejected an application by the Church of Scientology for a Lawful Development Certificate for a 45,000 sq ft event space built on their grounds for the annual International Association of Scientologists (IAS) event.
The mammoth marquee is constructed every year at their UK headquarters near East Grinstead, Sussex, in order to host a fundraising event, black-tie gala and charity concert regularly attended by celebrity Scientologists such as Tom Cruise, Nancy Cartwright and Trump ally and mega donor Trish Duggan.
After receiving a Planning Contravention Notice in 2024 warning the Church they must apply for planning permission ahead of this year’s event, Scientology lawyer Peter Hodkin asked for a Lawful Development Certificate (LDC), arguing that the marquee has been used annually since 2005 and has therefore become legal due to the passage of time, pursuant to the 10-year rule laid out in Section 191(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
However after reviewing the application and photographs provided by Scientology, Mid-Sussex District Council noted “it is considered that there is insufficient clarity in the evidence supplied such that the applicant has not demonstrated there has been a continuous pattern of use for a period of 10 years or more, as applied for.”
The Church provided photographs of their annual events, which the Council noted did not provide “external or internal evidence to show what year, month or day they were taken. There is no evidence of location at Saint Hill on Hobbs field. The photographs could be of marquees anywhere in the world.”The erection of the Marquee is said to take “several weeks” and dismantling and restoration takes about a month. The use of the Marquee (and therefore we assume the field), “occurs for approximately one week”. Elsewhere the application says the event lasts for three/five days/a week. There is lack of consistency and precision in the application documents about the duration of the use of the field during the annual event”
The refusal notice explains “the evidence within these photographs has not been corroborated by any other parties, and without any familiarity with the content of the events that are depicted, it is not possible to verify them. Only the photos from 2007, 2015, 2017 and 2018 (2016 is too blurred) show a large marquee in context with the existing Castle building; all other photos have no locational information. It is also not clear whether the structure depicts the interior of a marquee and whether the same marquee (capacity and dimensions) was used or whether more than 1 marquee was used.”
In other words, Scientology’s lawyers did a sloppy job at arguing their case and the Council are not convinced the evidence supplied was not enough for the Church to circumvent applying for planning permission. The decision notice states:
“On the basis of the dates set out in the Statutory Declaration, the temporary use started in October 2005 and took place on a yearly basis until October 2012 (i.e. 8 years). It then ceased until October 2014, a gap of 2 years. The temporary use resumed in October 2014 until October 2019 (i.e. 5 years). It ceased between October 2019 and October 2023, a gap of 4 years. The temporary use resumed in October 2023 – October 2024 (i.e. 2 years). It follows that on any basis there has been no continuous use for a single 10 year period.”
According to Scientology, in 2013 “preparations were started” but “the main marquee was not available in time” and as such the event was not held at Saint Hill. However they failed to mention that due to the release of the ‘Golden Age of Tech Phase II’ and opening of their new ‘Super Power’ building in Clearwater, Florida the tent had been shipped over to United States and the event was held at their property there known as Flag. As for the break between 2019 and 2023, “the event was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions on public gatherings” however, COVID measures were lifted by the UK government in July 2022 and there were no restrictions in place that would have prevented the event from taking place in October of that year. Nonetheless, Scientology argued “the annual event has occurred on the Land since October 2005, consistently in the same format and for the same purpose. The only exceptions to this continuous pattern were involuntary ones”
Comments from two objectors were noted in the Council’s report, which both argued the marquee is 45,000 sq ft and is only in place for a few months each year or intermittently. According to the Council, “one comment states that there is no evidence that the marquee that has been constructed every year over the last ten years is the same size or in the same location. It goes on to state that: ‘Although the structure is used to host a charity concert, this is just one day out of several weeks (or sometimes months) that the building is in place. Although the charity concert may be attended by a relatively small number of local residents, the main purpose of the building is to host a fundraising event for the Church of Scientology‘; and:
‘For context, at the last IAS event just £50,000 was donated to local charities but tickets for the ‘Patrons Ball’ on the Saturday alone brought in £1.2 million for IAS Administrations’ … and ‘money raised during the Friday IAS event itself‘; and:
‘Under the Town and Country Planning Act, the 10 year rule is defined as “beginning with the date on which the operations were substantially completed.” As a temporary structure, the works were not completed 10 years ago, rather the structure is substantially completed, and then removed every year. For the vast majority of the time over the last 10 years, the land has been used as a field with no structures.‘”
The Council also criticised Scientology’s argument, explaining “the erection of the Marquee is said to take “several weeks” and dismantling and restoration takes about a month. The use of the Marquee (and therefore we assume the field), “occurs for approximately one week”. Elsewhere the application says the event lasts for three/five days/a week. There is lack of consistency and precision in the application documents about the duration of the use of the field during the annual event.”
In conclusion, the report states “Overall, it is considered that there is insufficient clarity in the evidence supplied such that the applicant has not demonstrated there has been a continuous pattern of use of the field for the erection of a marquee(s) for a single continuous 10 year period. The evidence in the Statutory Declaration and photographs is vague and has been doubted and not been corroborated by third parties. Therefore, on the balance of probabilities, it has not been demonstrated with sufficient precision and unambiguity that an F1 use of the land has taken place for a continuous period of 10 years to justify a Lawful Development Certificate. Accordingly, the LDC should be refused.”
This leaves the future of Scientology’s annual IAS event in the balance, meaning in order to continue using Saint Hill as the venue, they will need to go through the process of applying for planning permission. This usually takes between 8 and 13 weeks and involves a wide-reaching consultation process to assess the impact any structure might have on the local community, as well as the Grade-II listed Saint Hill Manor and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in which it is located.
Construction of the marquee usually begins in mid-September, meaning that even if Scientology were to apply on Monday, it is unlikely they would be granted planning permission in time to host the event in October as usual.
The decision comes just weeks after Scientology faced a humiliating defeat in their bid to ban protesting outside the event.
You can read the report and refusal notice issued by Mid-Sussex District Council below:
