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24/00791/LAW Page 1 of 3
PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Application No. : 24/00791/LAW Applicant : Mr Kevin & Mrs Christine Cringle Proposal : Certificate of Lawful Development for widening of vehicular access Site Address : The Briars 43 Hawarden Avenue Douglas Isle Of Man IM1 4BW
Planning Officer: Lucy Kinrade Photo Taken : Site Visit : Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation
Recommendation
Recommended Decision:
Certificate of Lawful Use/Devel Approved Date of Recommendation: 05.08.2024 __
Conditions and Notes for Approval
C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions
C 1. There is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the widening of vehicular access works have been in situ for a period in excess of 4 years and therefore it is recommended that a Certificate of Lawful Development can be issued.
Plans/Drawings/Information; This approval relates to the following date stamped and received 02/07/2024: o Site Plan o Google Streetview image from September 2010 before works o Old photo of dwelling before works o Photo of dwelling and driveway widening works completed o Emails dated 2019 including photographs showing cars on driveway with works completed o Photograph of car on drive showing works completed in background dated April 2019 o Aerial View dated 2018 before works o Aerial Image dated 2019 showing works completed o Covering letter o Letter from a neighbour __
Interested Person Status - Additional Persons
None
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24/00791/LAW Page 2 of 3
Officer’s Report
1.0 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 Directorate 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.
2.0 APPLICATION SITE 2.1 The application site relates to 'The Briars', 43 Hawarden Avenue, Douglas.
3.0 THE PROPOSAL AND EVIDENCE SUBMITTED 3.1 A Certificate of Lawful Development is sought for: o widening of vehicular access
3.2 The application has been submitted with the following evidence (in no order): o Site Plan o Google Streetview image from September 2010 before works o Old photo of dwelling before works o Photo of dwelling and driveway widening works completed o Emails dated 2019 including photographs showing cars on driveway with works completed o Photograph of car on drive showing works completed in background dated April 2019 o Aerial View dated 2018 before works o Aerial Image dated 2019 showing works completed o Covering letter o Letter from a neighbour
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24/00791/LAW Page 3 of 3
4.0 PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 PA 24/00549/B was recently approved for patio doors to replace a rear window (retrospective).
5.0 REPRESENTATIONS Copies of representations received can be viewed on the Government's website. This report contains summaries only.
5.1 No comments have been received as of 05/08/2024.
6.0 ASSESSMENT 6.1 This is an application seeking a Certificate of Lawful Development, and therefore it is not a matter of considering the planning merits of the scheme but rather a legal determination based on the facts to establish whether the stated operations are established and lawful by period of time and therefore beyond the scope of enforcement action. The test of the evidence is based on the balance of reasonableness. In this instance, the applicant seeks to rely on the fact that the widening of the access works have 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 applicant has provided a number of aerial and site photograph images dating from 2019 and these showing the works being completed and in place for longer than 4 years. In this instance these images have also been corroborated with DEFA internal aerial images dated 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2021, where the works can be seen completed in the 2019 and 2021 images, as well as Google Earth Pro image dated February 2020.
7.0 CONCLUSION 7.1 In view of the above, it is recommended that the vehicular access widening works have been in situ for a period in excess of 4 years and a Certificate of Lawfulness can be issued.
8.0 INTERESTED PERSON 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 a Principal Planner 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: 09.08.2024
Determining officer Signed : J SINGLETON
Jason Singleton
Principal Planner
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