Lawful Development Certificate Granted for Domestic Curtilage
Impact Planning Services Ltd are pleased to have been granted a lawful development certificate to ensure the continued use of the curtilage of the dwelling known as the Lambing Shed for domestic use.
Planning permission was granted in 2015 for the conversion of the existing Lambing Shed to form residential accommodation. IPS assisted the previous owners of the building to regularise the development which had been extended during conversion. This fell beyond the terms of the approved conversion scheme but had been completed more than 4 years ago. The CLEUD certificate was granted in 2022.
Since the grant of the CLEUD certificated the ownership of the dwelling had changed. A pre-application request submitted to Cotswold District Council was submitted with regards to understanding the permitted development rights of the dwelling and future proposals on the site. The response from the duty officer considered that the associated 2022 CLEUD only applied to the building itself and the use of the associated curtilage would be considered unlawful.
IPS prepared and submitted a further CLEUD application which was supported by legal advice from Clarke Willmott LLP solicitors. The application established that legal principles demonstrate that the curtilage associated with the Lambing Shed should be certified as having a lawful residential use. In reference to case law within Newland v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2008] EWHC 3132, it is considered that it is legally incorrect and incongruous for the CLEUD to be restricted to the building only as a matter of necessity there is no other outside space and thus access to the site can only be achieved through the associated curtilage. In order for the District Council’s approach to this case to be successful, it would be necessary to find that the building and curtilage are separate planning units, to which it was considered that there was no evidence to support this notion, considering that both the dwelling house and curtilage had been in the same ownership and occupation continuously.
The Case Officer’s consideration of the application considered this reasoning to be correct. The officer’s report concludes:
‘By simple reasoning, it would it would be irrational to find that a build is a dwelling, but the immediately surrounding land (in ownership, layout and function) is not in a residential use incidental to that dwelling. As the Solicitors point out this would lead to a dwelling house with no exterior space i.e. no garden, no parking, no dive etc. The Local Planning Authority must rationally consider the planning unit at the point of the building became a lawful dwelling (after the relevant period).’
A LDC certificate has thus been issued by Cotswold District Council, by virtue of the 2022 CLEUD the land within the red line was found to have residential use incidental to the dwelling house. IPS are pleased to have secured this consent and formalise this position for our client, who can now continue to enjoy their home with this clarification and nullity from any enforcement action.
23/00875/CLEUD Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development under Section 191 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for residential use of land incidental to the dwellinghouse known as ‘the Lambing Shed’, Hartley Lane, Seven Springs The Lambing Shed Hartley Lane Seven Springs Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NF
