The Cottage, Cherry Park Farm Road, Ardeley, STEVENAGE, SG2 7AH

Use of building as Class E (formerly B1) office use

Authority: East Hertfordshire District Council
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: employment-industrial · Change of use
Inspector: Preston C

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the Council's decision to refuse to grant a certificate of lawful use or development was well-founded

What decided it

The appellant failed to provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate on the balance of probabilities that the building had been used as an independent office use for a continuous ten-year period prior to the application, due to ambiguity about whether the use was ancillary to Cherry Park Farm and significant gaps in supporting documentation.

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