20 Bellingham Trading Estate , FRANTHORNE WAY, London , SE6 3BX

Authority: London Borough of Lewisham
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: community-institutional · Change of use
Inspector: Whalley J

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the use of the property as a place of worship (Use Class F1) for a continuous period of 10 years or more before the application date had been demonstrated on the balance of probabilities

What decided it

The 25-month gap in occupation between May 2019 and June 2021 broke the continuity of use required to establish a 10-year period of uninterrupted use as a place of worship.

Judgments cited: Bernard Wheatcroft v Secretary of State for the Environment [1982] 43 P & CR 233; R (Holborn Studios Ltd) v London Borough of Hackney and GHL (Eagle Wharf Road) Ltd [2017] EWHC 2823 (Admin); Panton & Farmer v SSETR & Vale of White Horse DC [1999] JPL 461; Thurrock BC v SSETR & Holding [2002] EWCA Civ 226

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