207674

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PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No. : 24/00886/LAW Applicant : Mr James O' Neill Proposal : Certificate of Lawful Development for roofing works including the removal of chimney stacks Site Address : Glen Cottage Glen Road Laxey Isle Of Man IM4 7AJ

Planning Officer: Paul Visigah Photo Taken : Site Visit : Expected Decision Level : Officer Delegation

Recommendation

Recommended Decision:

Certificate of Lawful Use/Devel Approved Date of Recommendation: 16.08.2024 __

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

C 1. There is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the roofing works including the removal of chimney stacks shown in the submitted information have been in situ for more than 4 years and as such, the Department may not issue an enforcement notice due to the provisions of Town and Country Planning Act 1999 Schedule 4 Part 1 paragraph 3(a).

Plans/Drawings/Information; This approval relates to the submitted documents received on 1st August 2024. __

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;

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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.

2.0 THE APPLICATION SITE 2.1 The site is the curtilage of Glen Cottage, Glen Road, Laxey. The cottage is a two storey, traditional Manx dwelling house built pre 1921. The cottage is characterised by 7 windows, a porch on the front, and a pitched Manx slate roof with three chimney stacks. The walls have been rendered on all sides and painted.

1.2 The cottage is located within a predominantly residential area, consisting of a mixture of traditional-style Manx dwellings and more modern housing. The cottage's frontage is located immediately on the edge of the main highway in lower Laxey, Glen Road. It is one of a number of residential dwellings that are sited immediately adjacent to the highway along Glen Road; however, at this particular point along the road, this and the adjacent property to the south east are the only two.

3.0 THE PROPOSAL 3.1 The application seeks a Certificate of Lawful Development in respect of operations carried out prior to the end of 2019 for roofing works including the removal of chimney stacks.

3.2 The application seeking the Certificate of Lawfulness was submitted on 1st August 2024.

4.0 PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 There have been a number of previous applications at the site: o PA 01/00668/B for Erection of garden shed and concreting - Withdrawn. o PA 11/01641/B for Installation of replacement windows (Retrospective) - Refused at Appeal. o PA 15/00617/B for Installation of replacement windows to front elevation - Approved. o PA 17/00497/B for Erection of shed (retrospective) - Approved.

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS 5.1 Garff Commissioners have no objections to the application.

6.0 EVIDENCE SUBMITTED 6.1 The application has been submitted with the following evidence (in no order): a. A Cover Letter dated 27 July 2024; b. A Location Plan; c. A Site Plan; d. Existing Elevations which shows dwelling after works have been carried out;

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e. Application form which provides details of works carried out and supporting information; f. Invoice Details from MSN Roofing and Scaffolding Ltd and Conservatories for roofing works dated 30 October 2019; g. Regularisation Certificate from DEFA Building Control for roof works dated 16 April 2024; h. Photographs of site showing chronology of works; and i. Link to Facebook page of MSN Roofing showing post on works dated 29 October 2019.

7.0 ASSESSMENT 7.1 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 roofing works, including the removal of chimney stacks, which are the subject of the current application 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.

7.2 The applicant has provided a number of documents for the developments which demonstrate that the roof changes have been in situ prior to the end of 2019. The Facebook posts on the MSN Roofing page have time stamps clearly show the building before the roof works, and the building after roof works (including removal of all chimney stacks), as well as the date of the post which is 29 October 2019. These clearly show that the development has been insitu since 2019.

7.3 Further to the above, the Aerial Imagery for the site from Isle of Man Government also show various stages of the work and serve to reinforce the documents submitted by the applicants. The 2018 Aerial imagery dated 13 and 18 May 2018 show that the developments have not been carried out as the roof and chimneys are in place. On the 2019 Aerial Imagery dated 25 August 2019 the building is shown without roof cover. Finally, the 2021 Aerial Imagery dated June/July 2021 shows the roof changes to be insitu. All these serve to corroborate the evidence provided by the applicant to demonstrate that the works were carried out in 2019.

7.4 Given the above, it is recommended that a Certificate of Lawfulness of Development is granted in respect of these works.

8.0 CONCLUSION 8.1 In view of the above, it is not recommended that a Certificate of Lawfulness be issued.

9.0 INTERESTED PARTY STATUS 9.1 As the application is for a CLU this is not required to be assessed. There is no right to appeal against this decision.

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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: 20.08.2024

Determining officer

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Signed : C BALMER

Chris Balmer

Principal Planner

Customer note

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