Planning Application Details

On the balance of probability the available evidence does support the applicant's claims that the garage building and hardstanding were both substantially completed more than 4 years prior to the issuing of an enforcement notice (Notice SE22/197(B)) on 24 October 2024, which required these operations to be demolished and removed; and on the date of the current application, being 27 November 2024. Therefore, on the balance of probability the garage building and hardstanding were both immune from enforcement action under section 171B(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for a continuous period of 10 years before the application date. These operations were therefore lawful within the meaning of Section 191 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 on the date of the application.

However, the available evidence does not support the applicant's claim that the appeal site was lawfully used as part of the residential garden of Home Farm House for a period of at least 10 years prior to the date of the application. Specifically, the available evidence does not support the applicant's claim that the majority of the site benefited from planning permission P85/N0717 for the "continued use of land as private garden area"; and the evidence submitted in support of the applicant's claim that the site was used as part of their residential garden for a continuous period of 10 years prior to the issuing of an enforcement notice (Notice SE22/197(A)) on 24 October 2024, which required the residential use of the land to cease, is not sufficiently precise and unambiguous and is otherwise contradicted by evidence on the council's file and from HM Land Registry. Therefore, on the balance of probability the use of the land as residential garden was not immune from enforcement action under section 171B(3) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 on 24 October 2024 when Notice SE22/197(A) was issued; or on the date of the current application, being 27 November 2024. The alleged use was not therefore lawful within the meaning of Section 191 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 on the date of the application.