Land at Yew Tree Farm, Stone Street, Stanford, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6DH

Planning appeal 3369822 at Land at Yew Tree Farm, Stone Street, Stanford, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6DH (Folkestone and Hythe District Council) was decided (quashed on legal grounds) on 21 January 2026 by Inspector Steen A, following an inquiry. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Whether, on the balance of probability, the use began more than 10 years before the notice was issued on 20 June 2025, such that no enforcement action could be taken (ground (d)).

without planning permission, the material change of use of land from agriculture to use for the provision of training in the use of construction plant and machinery; and the creation of earth mounds

Authority: Folkestone and Hythe District Council
Appeal type: enforcement · Enforcement Notice
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: employment-industrial · Change of use
Inspector: Steen A
Postcode: TN25 6DH

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether, on the balance of probability, the use began more than 10 years before the notice was issued on 20 June 2025, such that no enforcement action could be taken (ground (d))

What decided it

The Inspector found that the training use began on 10 December 2014 and continued without material cessation, including through the Covid-19 lockdown, so that it had subsisted for at least 10 years before the notice was issued.

What the Inspector cited

Judgments: Jones v Isle of Anglesey CC [2025] JPL 6; Miles v National Assembly for Wales [2007] JPL 1235

How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.

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The decision letter

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7 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

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More decisions in Folkestone and Hythe District Council

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2026

Dismissed25 September 20263339048
Land Adjoining George Inn, Stone Street, Stelling Minnis, Kent, CT4 6DF
Notice upheld27 April 20263335400
Paternoster Farm, 2 Hope Lane, St Mary's in the Marsh, Romney Marsh, Kent, TN29 0DD
Notice varied and upheld25 July 20243321005
Hoad's Meadow Alpaca Retreat , Hoad's Lane , Swingfield, Kent, CT15 7HS
Notice upheld16 January 20243278430
Land Adjoining The Cottage, Canterbury Road, Selsted, Kent, CT15 7HJ
Allowed5 October 20233259875
Stuarts Lodge, South Lodge Road, Stelling Minnis, Kent, CT4 6BL

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.