Stuart Nurseries, 57 North Cray Road, SIDCUP, Kent, DA14 5EU

(1) Land Area 15: Without planning permission, the material change of use of Land Area 15 for open storage together with the parking of vehicles, plant and machinery. (2) Land Area 24: Without planning permission, the material change of use of the Land Area 24, to a mixed use for the deposit and storage of wood, manure, green waste and soil (waste classification code 17.05.04) and of inert materials; the activity of processing these materials on Land Area 24 using associated plant and machinery connected with that use; and for the parking and storage of plant, vehicles and machinery on Land Area 24. i) The mixed use of an access road, shown in the approximate location by a purple line on land area 24, for commercial uses associated with the use outlined in (2) above

Authority: London Borough of Bexley
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: minerals-waste · Change of use
Inspector: Dyer S

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The main issue in a ground (d) appeal is whether at the date when the enforcement notice was issued it was too late to take enforcement action on the basis of the time limit set out in section 171B(3) of the Act
For the LDC appeal, the main issue is whether the Council's decision to refuse the application for an LDC on this basis was well-founded
An appeal on ground (b) is that the matters to which the notice relates have not occurred
Ground (g) is that the period specified for compliance with the notice falls short of what should reasonably be allowed

What decided it

The appellants failed to demonstrate, on the balance of probabilities, that the alleged breaches of planning control had occurred and continued without interruption for the full ten years required to establish immunity from enforcement action.

Judgments cited: Burdle v Secretary of State for the Environment [1972] WLR 1207

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.