DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No.: 23/01169/LAW Applicant: Mrs A Atcheson Proposal: Certificate of Lawful Development - Installation of replacement windows Site Address: 20 Castle Street Peel Isle Of Man IM5 1AN Planning Officer: Mrs Vanessa Porter Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Certificate of Lawful Use Declined Date of Recommendation: 09.11.2023 _________________________________________________________________ R : Reasons for Refusal O : Notes attached to reasons Reasons for Refusal R 1. Based on the evidence which has been submitted as part of the application, it is considered that on the balance of reasonableness it has not been adequately demonstrated that the windows have been in situ for a period of time in excess of 4 years. As such it is recommended that the application be refused and a Certificate of Lawful Development not be issued.

_______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons n/a _____________________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report INTRODUCTION

1.1 In accordance with the provisions of Schedule 4, Part 1, paragraph 3 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 ("the Act"), a development carried out in breach of planning control shall become immune from enforcement action after a certain period of time, provided that formal enforcement action has not already been taken. The relevant time periods are set out below:

• a) in respect of a breach of planning control consisting of the carrying out without planning approval of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, after the end of the period of 4 years beginning with the date on which the operations were substantially completed;

• b) in respect of a breach of planning control consisting of the change of use of any building to use as a single dwelling house, after the end of the period of 4 years beginning with the date of the breach;
• c) in respect of any other breach of planning control, after the end of the period of 10 years beginning with the date of the breach.

1.2 Section 24 of the Act makes provision for the submission and issuing of a Certificate of Lawfulness to establish the lawfulness of a breach of planning control. - 1.3 An application for a Certificate of Lawfulness is determined on the basis of fact. Unlike an application for planning approval, it is not concerned with land-use planning considerations or the impacts of the development upon the public realm. - 1.4 The principal test is whether, on the balance of probabilities, the breach of planning control has occurred continuously for the given period. The burden of proof rests with the applicant and their evidence must be both precise and unambiguous. If the Planning Authority has no evidence of its own to contradict that provided by the applicant, then provided that the applicant's evidence is sufficiently precise and unambiguous, a Certificate of Lawfulness may be issued. It is not usually necessary for the Planning Department to corroborate the applicant's evidence. APPLICATION SITE

2.1 The application seeks a Certificate of Lawful Development in respect of the replacement of windows. The property is an end of terrace three storey dwelling situated to the North East of Castle Street. - 2.2 The application seeking the Certificate of Lawfulness was submitted on 3rd September 2023. PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 PA11/01674/B - Re roofing works to dwelling - APPLICATION WITHDRAWN - 3.2 PA91/01182/C - Change of use of first and second floors from residential to playschool REFUSED ON REVIEW - 3.3 PA89/00382/B - Alterations and modernisation of ground floor flat - PERMITTED REPRESENTATIONS

4.1 None received at the time of writing this report. SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE PROVIDED - 5.1 The application has been submitted with the following evidence (in no order):

• i. Location plan;
• ii. Applicant Statement & Proof of Occupancy
• iii. Photographs of the front of the property, two dated 4/2010 and two non-dated

ASSESSMENT

6.1 Considering this application, the applicant seeks to rely on the fact that the windows to the rear were installed in or around 2002 when the front windows were replaced under 02/00094/B and has been in situ for a minimum of 4 years to establish that the development can be considered lawful, as set out in Part 4, Section 24(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999.

6.2 The application is slightly ambiguous by requesting a Certificate of Lawfulness for windows but only providing the front elevation of the property, with details missing within this

• application. Further clarification of exactly what the proposal was for was requested to no avail. As such this application is just assessing the front windows only.
• 6.3 Having looked at the information with the application, and checked online it can be seen that the proposed property on google streetview (2010) has half and half casements installed and that the last photo provided shows the windows as they are currently, which can be found from the sellers information for the property (2022), the windows can be found to be 70/30 windows.

CONCLUSION

7.1 There is no information provided within this Certificate of Lawfulness which shows when the windows were installed, with the only information being in recent years and not enough to state on the balance of probability that the windows have been in situ for a minimum of 4 years to establish that the development can be considered immune from the issue of an enforcement notice.

7.2 It is recommended that a Certificate of Lawful Development be refused in respect of the installation of replacement windows to the front of the application property. INTERESTED PARTY STATUS - 8.1 As the application is for a CLU this is not required to be assessed. There is no right to appeal against this decision.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by the Head of Development Management in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation and that in making this decision the Officer has agreed the recommendation in relation to who should be afforded Interested Person Status

Decision Made : Certificate of Lawful Use Declined Date : 14.11.2023 Determining officer

Signed : S BUTLER Stephen Butler Head of Development Management

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