8 George Beard Road, London, SE8 3PE

described as ‘Change of Use from C3 dwelling house to C4 HMO’

Authority: London Borough of Lewisham
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Change of use
Inspector: Willows P

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the Council's decision to refuse to issue a certificate was well-founded, turning on whether on the date of application the use of the property as a C4 HMO would have been lawful

What decided it

The critical date for assessing lawfulness under section 192 is the date of application (2 December 2023), not the date of the Council's decision, and the Article 4 Direction introduced after that date cannot apply retrospectively to remove permitted development rights that existed at the time of application.

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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.

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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.
Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.
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