Town Planner Pro
Free trial
Search appeal decisions

Planning appeal decision

Notice upheld16 October 20253347940

The Studio, Manor Farm Church Lane, Graveley, Hitchin, SG4 7BN

Planning appeal 3347940 at The Studio, Manor Farm Church Lane, Graveley, Hitchin, SG4 7BN (North Hertfordshire District Council) was dismissed on 16 October 2025 by Inspector Symons G, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Whether the box dormer is immune from enforcement action by virtue of s171B(1) of the 1990 Act as operational development substantially completed for at least four years prior to the enforcement notice.

Without planning permission, the erection of box dormer to North roof slope and the material change of use of the first floor of the building to self-contained studio flat, in the approximate position outlined in PINK and hatched on the attached plan

Authority
North Hertfordshire District Council
Appeal type
enforcement · Enforcement Notice
Procedure
Written Representations
Development
residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector
Symons G
Postcode
SG4 7BN

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

  • Whether the box dormer is immune from enforcement action by virtue of s171B(1) of the 1990 Act as operational development substantially completed for at least four years prior to the enforcement notice
  • Whether the requirements of the enforcement notice exceed what is necessary to remedy the breach of planning control

What decided it

The Council's aerial photographic evidence demonstrating the box dormer was not substantially completed four years before the enforcement notice was issued, combined with the appellant's failure to provide any evidence to support the claim.

The decision letter

Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.

Appeals plan, £15 a month

With an account

What an account adds to this decision

10 other decided appeals within two kilometres of this site. In the app every dot opens its decision, and its letter wherever one was published, and you can draw your own site to see what has been decided around it.AllowedDismissedSplitThis decision
An appeal decision in the app, with the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out beside the letter
Every letter, there to read. We pick out the main issues, the policies and the judgments cited, so you can work through the letter faster.
Searching the full text of appeal decision letters in the app
Search inside every letter. By words or by meaning, filtered by authority, outcome, appeal type and procedure, with every locatable decision on the map and the Inspector named on each.
Start your free trial

More decisions in North Hertfordshire

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2025

  1. Notice upheld11 August 20263378008
    The George at Baldock, 2 Hitchin Street, Baldock, Hertfordshire , SG7 6AE
  2. Notice upheld16 March 20263361938
    The Cabinet, High Street, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 8AH
  3. Notice upheld16 March 20263314199
    The Cabinet, High Street, Reed, Royston, SG8 8AH
  4. Notice upheld16 March 20263314159
    The Cabinet, High Street, Reed, Royston, SG8 8AH
  5. Quashed On Legal Grounds4 July 20253362386
    Land at 1A High Street, Graveley, Hitchen, Hertfordshire, SG4 7LE

The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

In the app this decision sits on the map beside every appeal around it, with its letter to read and the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out.