Little Beck, Burma Road, Darlington , DL2 1QH

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• Ground (b) – that the matters alleged in the notice have not taken place
• Ground (c) – that the matters alleged do not constitute a breach of planning control
• Ground (d) – that it is too late to take enforcement action

What decided it

The appellant's largely unchallenged evidence establishing continuous residential occupation of a separate third pitch for a period exceeding ten years before the enforcement notice was issued.

The Inspector weighed the Council's interest in retaining the ability to control future breaches of condition 4 against the disadvantage to the wider Smith family of imposing new, more onerous conditions, concluding on balance that it was expedient for condition 4 to continue to subsist rather than be varied or discharged.