DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No.: 22/01092/LAW Applicant: Mrs Janet McGowan Proposal: Certificate of Lawful development for a greenhouse and garage Site Address: Paradise Field Mill Street Castletown Isle Of Man IM9 1AQ Planning Officer: Mrs Vanessa Porter Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Certificate of Lawful Use/Devel Approved Date of Recommendation: 20.10.2022

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

C 1. The application has been provided with sufficient submitted evidence to demonstrate that the greenhouse and the garage have been in situ for a period in excess of 4 years and therefore it is recommended that a Certificate of Lawful Development can be issued.

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the information all received on 22nd August 2022 _______________________________________________________________

Interested Person Status

Additional Persons N/A _____________________________________________________________________________ Officer’s Report INTRODUCTION

1.1 In accordance with the provisions of Schedule 4, Part 1, paragraph 3 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999 ("the Act"), a development carried out in breach of planning control shall become immune from enforcement action after a certain period of time, provided that formal enforcement action has not already been taken. The relevant time periods are set out below:

• a) in respect of a breach of planning control consisting of the carrying out without planning approval of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, after the end of the period of 4 years beginning with the date on which the operations were substantially completed;

• b) in respect of a breach of planning control consisting of the change of use of any building to use as a single dwelling house, after the end of the period of 4 years beginning with the date of the breach;
• c) in respect of any other breach of planning control, after the end of the period of 10 years beginning with the date of the breach.

1.2 Section 24 of the Act makes provision for the submission and issuing of a Certificate of Lawfulness to establish the lawfulness of a breach of planning control. - 1.3 An application for a Certificate of Lawfulness is determined on the basis of fact. Unlike an application for planning approval, it is not concerned with land-use planning considerations or the impacts of the development upon the public realm. - 1.4 The principal test is whether, on the balance of probabilities, the breach of planning control has occurred continuously for the given period. The burden of proof rests with the applicant and their evidence must be both precise and unambiguous. If the Planning Authority has no evidence of its own to contradict that provided by the applicant, then provided that the applicant's evidence is sufficiently precise and unambiguous, a Certificate of Lawfulness may be issued. It is not usually necessary for the Planning Department to corroborate the applicant's evidence. APPLICATION SITE

2.1 The application seeks a Certificate of Lawful Use in respect of a greenhouse and garage situated within the curtilage of Paradise Field, Mill Street, Castletown. The property is situated within its own space behind several properties along Mill Street, Malew Street, Paradise Court and Ellerslie Gardens. - 2.2 The application seeking the Certificate of Lawfulness was submitted on 22nd August 2022. PLANNING HISTORY

3.1 The application site has had several previous applications, of which none are relevant in the assessment of this application. REPRESENTATIONS - 4.1 None received at the time of writing this report. SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE PROVIDED - 5.1 The application has been submitted with the following evidence (in no order):

• i. Location plan;
• ii. Planning Statement, which includes photographs and invoices.

ASSESSMENT

6.1 Considering this application, the applicant seeks to rely on the fact the garage and the greenhouse have been in situ for a minimum of 4 years to establish that the development can be considered lawful, as set out in Part 4, Section 24(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999.

6.2 The evidence submitted consists of a location plan and a planning statement which has provided a back history for the site and the proposed works. Having looked at this information and the information available to the Department, such as the photographic aerials over the years comparing from 2015, 2017 and to 2020, it can clearly be seen that both the greenhouse and the garage have been in situ for over 4 years. This is further evidenced through the submission of invoices for work from 2013, 2014, 2015 from respective trades work, suppliers and deliveries concerning the greenhouse and garage. CONCLUSION

7.1 It is considered on the balance of probability that the works have been in situ for a minimum of 4 years to establish that the development can be considered immune from the issue of an enforcement notice.

7.2 It is recommended that a Certificate of Lawful Development be issued in respect of the installation of replacement windows on the rear of the application property. INTERESTED PARTY STATUS - 8.1 As the application is for a CLU this is not required to be assessed. There is no right to appeal against this decision.

I can confirm that this decision has been made by a Principal Planner in accordance with the authority afforded to that Officer by the appropriate DEFA Delegation and that in making this decision the Officer has agreed the recommendation in relation to who should be afforded Interested Person Status.

Decision Made : Certificate of Lawful Use/Devel Approved Date: 25.10.2022 Determining officer Signed : J SINGLETON Jason Singleton Principal Planner

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