Butterbank House, Butterbank, STAFFORD, ST18 9LN

the use of land as a residential garden

Authority: Stafford Borough Council
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Householder developments
Inspector: Walker A

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the Council's decision to refuse to grant a Certificate of Lawful Use or Development (LDC) is well-founded

What decided it

The evidence was sufficiently precise and unambiguous to demonstrate on the balance of probabilities that the appeal land had been in continuous use as a residential garden for ten or more years prior to the LDC application date, supported by historical aerial photographs, sworn declarations, and the absence of any contradictory evidence from the Council.

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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.
Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.
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