The Lodge, 37A Cavendish Road, Markyate, ST. ALBANS, AL3 8PT

a residential use for more than 4 years, using side gate and rear gate access

Authority: Dacorum Borough Council
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Householder developments
Inspector: Hitchcock R

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether or not the Council's decision to refuse the certificate of lawful use was well founded

What decided it

The Council's own finding in February 2019 that the site had been occupied for at least 4 years, combined with unchallenged evidence of Council Tax registration from May 2015 and responses to PCNs, established on the balance of probabilities that residential use had persisted for 4 years or more prior to the application date.

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What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.
- Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
- Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
- Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
- Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.
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