23 February 2012 · Delegated
6, Kingswood Grove, Douglas, Isle Of Man, IM1 3lx
The application sought a Certificate of Lawful Use for office use at 6 Kingswood Grove, Douglas, a three-storey terraced property with a rear yard accessed from a service lane. The applicant, Manx National Heritage, submitted a range of evidence including a 2002 property inventory showing the Centre for Manx Studies occupying each floor as offices, a statutory declaration from the Centre's Director, three leases between the Manx Museum and National Trust and the University of Liverpool running from 2001 to 2010, rate demands for 2011/12 rating the building as offices and a store, and a letter from the Centre for Manx Studies dated 1992. The key legal test was whether, on the balance of reasonableness, the office use had existed for more than ten years — the threshold under Schedule 4 Part 1 Paragraph 3(c) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 after which enforcement action cannot be taken. The planning history showed a 1985 application to convert the building to flats was refused, and subsequent applications related to upgrades rather than any change away from office use. The evidence was found sufficient to confirm the use had been established beyond the ten-year period, and the certificate was approved.
The certificate was granted because the evidence submitted — including leases, a statutory declaration, a 2002 inventory, and rate demands — demonstrated on the balance of reasonableness that the building had been in continuous office use for more than ten years, satisfying the legal threshold under the Town and Country Planning Act 1999.
Town and Country Planning Act 1999
