Wass Drove Farm, Wass Drove, Westmarsh, CT3 2LT

stationing of up to 5 caravans for all year round residential occupation and up 25 caravans for residential occupation during the period 1st march and 30th November each year

Authority: Dover District Council
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Hearing
Development: caravan-gypsy · Change of use
Inspector: Freer P

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether the Council's decision to refuse to grant a Certificate of Lawful Use or Development (LDC) was well founded

What decided it

The appellant failed to discharge the burden of proving, on the balance of probability, that the character of the use of the site in March 2020 matched or was close to the use found lawful in the 2018 LDC.

Judgments cited: Hertfordshire CC v SSCLG & Metal and Waste Recycling Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 1473; Broxbourne Borough Council v Secretary of State for the Environment and others [1979] 2 All ER 13; Hannan v Newham LBC [2014] EWHC 1424 (Admin); Ramsay & Anor v Secretary Of State For Environment, Transport & Regions & Anor [2001] EWHC Admin 277; Avon Estates Ltd v Welsh Ministers [2011] EWCA Civ 553; Burdle & Williams v SSE & New Forest DC [1972] 1 WLR 1207; Wall & Ors v Winchester City Council & Anor [2015] EWCA Civ 563

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.