Land adjacent to 445 London Road, South Benfleet, Benfleet, Essex, SS7 1AW

without planning permission, a material change of use of the land as (sic) a garden for purposes incidental to the enjoyment of a dwellinghouse

Authority: Castle Point Borough Council
Appeal type: enforcement · Enforcement Notice
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Change of use
Inspector: Hawkins S

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the matter alleged in the enforcement notice has occurred (ground b)
Whether the matter alleged constitutes a breach of planning control (ground c)
Whether it was too late to take enforcement action (ground d)

What decided it

The appellants could not provide sufficiently clear evidence that the use as a residential garden had been continuous for more than ten years before the enforcement notice was issued, with contemporaneous documents and former occupiers' evidence indicating the boundary extension occurred after 2014.

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