®Planning appeal decision
Dismissed10 August 20223287100
4b Clifton Terrace, Southend on Sea, Essex, SS1 1DT
the use of 4B and 4C Clifton Terrace as a single family dwelling
- Authority
- Southend-on-Sea City Council
- Appeal type
- ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Change of use
- Inspector
- Pleasant L
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the Council's decision to refuse to grant a certificate of existing lawful use or development was well founded, turning on whether the appellant can demonstrate on the balance of probability that a change of use of Flats 4B and 4C to a single dwellinghouse took place more than four years before the date of the application and continued without significant interruption thereafter, so as to be immune from enforcement action
What decided it
The Council Tax and Water Supply bills showing separate charges for both flats between 2010 and 2021, unexplained by the appellant, cast significant doubt on the claim of continuous occupation as a single dwelling and rendered the appellant's evidence insufficiently precise and unambiguous to meet the balance of probability test.
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.