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APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATE OF LAWFUL DEVELOPMENT
Received 24/4/15 1500449 DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING AND BUILDING CONTROL Town and Country Building Act RECEIVED ON 24 APR 2015 DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE
DAVID J. HARRIS DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE
SAVAGE & CHADWICK ARCHITECTS RIBA Chartered Practice
April 2015.
Following receipt of correspondence of the 23rd May 2014 from Planning & Building Control of the Department of Infrastructure advising that following enquiry they considered breach of Planning relative to the use of the land adjacent to Ellenbrook Farm and subsequent exchanges of correspondence on this matter, an Application for a Certificate of Lawful Development is submitted under the provisions of Section 24 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1999 for the hardstanding as previously leased by the Isle of Man Government. It is submitted that the development of the hardstanding has been present for more than the prescribed 10 years. This history is provable through the following history / sequence of events.
The following is the history relating to the development of a hard standing that is now subject to an application for a Certificate of Lawful Development to demonstrate it existence for more than 10 years.
Mid 1980’s Cliff Cowin Excavations Ltd then owner of the property Ellenbrook created the hardstanding from a sloping field east of the dwelling house.
About 1988 Cliff Cowin Excavations Ltd verbally agreed terms for the IOM Railways to occupy the land and to use the created hardstanding
02.07.2003 A 3 year lease was agreed between the new owner Roy & Gill Hall and the Dept of Tourism and Leisure for the hardstanding
01.02.2006 A renewal of a 3 year lease to the Dept. of Tourism and Leisure with the new owner Carnane Estate Ltd for the use of the hardstanding
2010 Dept of Tourism – Isle of Man Railways vacate the hardstanding 2010 – present Carnane Estate Ltd have the occupied the hard standing in support of the 2000 acres farm it manages. 23.05.2015 Letter from Planning Control re alleged breach of Planning
Since then there has been a series of enquiries with the former CEO of the Dept of Community Culture and Leisure (formerly ‘Tourism’) now CEO of Dept of Infrastructure and a meeting with Planning Manager for the Planning and Building Control Section Dept of Infrastructure.
Based on the foregoing it is considered that the construction of a hardstanding in a field adjacent to the dwelling house of the property Ellenbrook Farm constituted ‘development’ of that area. The hardstanding remained and was used by the present owner/applicant and owners either directly or under lease to third parties, for approximately 27 years. See attached plan from the 2003 lease confirming the existence of the hardstanding (appendix A – lease plan). Area described within the lease as being “Storage Compound”
It is believed that the development was created by the laying of a hardstanding apparently without any planning approval to do so at that time.
The provisions of the Town & Country Planning Act 1991 and subsequently 1999 would have we believe required a permission to have been sought to undertake such development. It is further believed that Planning Approval was not sought by the owner at that time - Mr Cliff Cowin. Subsequent owners and tenants have continued to recognise the existence of a hardstanding created by others. The present owners wish to retain the hardstanding.
Current planning legislation which refers is the Town & Country Planning Act 1999 and associated Area Plans, Policies and Orders.
At the time of the original breach the legislation applicable at that time was the Act that preceded the Town & Country Planning Act 1991 as noted above.
For a period nearly 22 years (1988 to 2010) the Dept of Tourism & Leisure used the hardstanding as materials storage compound to service the adjacent railway with both informal and formal lease. It is clear that they occupied a hard standing.
Development is defined within the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 Section 6 which states;
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, in this Act ‘development’ means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land.
(2) For the purposes of this section- (a) the use as 2 or more separate dwelling houses of any building previously used as a single dwelling house involves a material change in the use of the building and of each part of it which is so used; (b) the deposit of refuse or waste materials on land involves a material change in its use, notwithstanding that the land is comprised in a site already used for that purpose, if- (i) the superficial area of the deposit is extended, or (ii) the height of the deposit is extended and exceeds the level of the land adjoining the site; (c) subject to subsection (3)(d), the forestation of land involves a material change in its use;
(d) the following are engineering operations constituting development- (i) the material alteration of any existing means of access to land from a road; (ii) the provision of a new means of access, and (iii) the execution of any road works preliminary or incidental to the erection of a building;
(e) the following are building operations constituting development- (i) the demolition of a building which is attached to another building, where the other building is not also demolished; and (ii) the demolition of part of a building, where the rest of the building is not also demolished."
There has clearly been the undertaking of works as defined to create a level area as a hardstanding area and it has been there for more than 4 years.
As noted there exists a historic development at Ellenbrook for a hardstanding which is as noted in the lease relative to its attached plan (Appendix A) and this area has, for the most part been subject to use by the then Dept of Tourism and Leisure for materials and equipment associated with the railway the Dept. of Tourism did not create the hardstanding / storage compound they used an extant ‘development’ created by Cliff Cowin Excavations Ltd in the 1980’s. (see Appendix B – Google Earth plan)
By using the site for 22 years the Depart of Tourism effectively confirmed the presence of the development at Ellenbrook which was originally undertaken by the previous owners.
The existence is therefore a fully provable for the hardstanding and a key means of proof, if required, is amongst other things the formal lease from 2003. This lease was either drafted by or notarised by H.M. Attorney General’s Office.
Following cessation of the lease by the Dept. of Tourism and Leisure the present owners have been in possession of the hardstanding as a part of the Carnane Estate.
Also to reiterate and as noted, whilst an informal agreement existed (which is unequivocal) since 2003 the actual development of a hardstanding has been in existence at the farm since 1988.
As the noted minimum time frame for consideration for certification is 4 years, however the provable lease agreements of 2003 onwards are in themselves sufficient to establish the presence of the development on the site beyond 10 years.
The submitted Application is clear therefore to regularise and give approval to a long standing development at Ellenbrook Farm.
Based on the forgoing we would ask for a Certificate of Lawful Development to be granted.
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