Unit 5, The Mazes, East Street, BRAINTREE, Essex, CM7 3JJ

described on the application form as: Used as a light Industrial building within the user clause of B2-B8 for over 50 years but supported by documentary evidence of 32 years

Authority: Braintree 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 use described was lawful at the time the application was made and whether the Council's decision to refuse to grant a Certificate of Existing Lawful Use was well-founded

What decided it

The applicant's evidence was insufficiently precise and ambiguous as to the nature of activities carried on, failing to meet the balance of probability test required to demonstrate an existing lawful use.

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