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                                      24/00337/LAW                                     Page  1  of  3

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No. : 24/00337/LAW Applicant : Mrs Alison Hadley Proposal : Certificate of lawful development relating to widened vehicular access and associated dropped kerb Site Address : 13 Belgravia Road Onchan Isle Of Man IM3 1HN

Planning Officer: Vanessa Porter Photo Taken : Site Visit : Expected Decision Level :

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Certificate of Lawful Use/Devel Approved Date of Recommendation: 18.04.2024 __

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

C 1. There is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the works done to the front boundary walling to create an access onto the highway have been in situ for a period exceeding 4 years and as such, it is recommended that a Certificate of Lawful Development can be issued.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the information all received on 27th March 2024 and 17th April 2024 __

Interested Person Status - Additional Persons

None __

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

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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 removal of walling and the creation of a driveway to the front elevation of 13 Belgravia Road, Onchan.

2.2 13 Belgravia, Onchan is an end of terrace two storey property situated to the South West of Belgravia Road. To the front of the existing dwellings, there is a front garden which has a low wall to the roadside and entrance gates.

2.3 The application seeking the Certificate of Lawfulness was submitted on 27th March 2024.

PLANNING HISTORY 3.1 The application site has had three previous applications;

3.2 PA17/01080/B - Demolition of outhouse, erection of garage and relocation of access to kitchen - Permitted.

3.3 PA14/00539/B - Removal of two chimney stacks - Permitted.

3.4 PA97/00979/B - Creation of front drive and hardstanding - Refused.

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. Application Form ii. Highways Application for the drop curb, including map iii. Aerial of the site from 2019 iv. Letter from DEFA Planning regarding a breach of planning. v. Location plan vi. Supporting Statement vii. Photos of driveway

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ASSESSMENT 6.1 Considering this application, the applicant seeks to reply on the fact that the proposed works to create an access to the front elevation, including the removal of a wall and installation of a dropped curb have been in place 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 When looking at the evidence provided there is a letter to the applicant dated 27.08.19, which clearly states that a material alteration of the existing means of access has been done. The application for a Certificate of Lawful Development was submitted on the 27th March 2024, which is over 4 years from the date of the letter provided. As such the information from this point of view is conclusive.

6.3 Whilst an aerial photograph was provided for the works, there were no photos provided face on, as such this was requested to check against the photos that the Department has on hand for the Enforcement Breach to assess whether any further works had been done, which might not have benefitted from the same amount of time.

6.4 The photos provided show that the works done are exactly as per when a site visit was done by the Department on 26th April 2019.

CONCLUSION 7.1 The information provided is conclusive to show on the balance of probability that the driveway alterations 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 issued in respect of the removal of the existing wall to create an access of the highway.

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 Acting 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/Devel Approved

Date : 18.04.2024

Determining officer Signed : A MORGAN Abigail Morgan

Acting Head of Development Management

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