Lawful development certificate for commencement of development approved in Tendring, Essex

We are delighted to have secured a lawful development certificate to confirm that development has commenced on a site near St Osyth in Tendring District, Essex.

The Planning Issue

Our client had inherited an area of open land where a house once stood.

It was apparent that planning permission was originally granted in 1998 for the demolition of existing house and the construction of a new house. In this case the existing house was demolished in the early 2000s, but the new house was never constructed.

Our client wanted to understand whether the original planning permission was still live or whether a new planning application was needed.

The key in this case was to establish that the original planning permission had commenced in accordance with the approved 1998 planning permission. This was important, as the local planning policies have changed since the decision was made, and the principle of securing a dwelling at this location would not be acceptable, so a new planning application would not have been successful.

We therefore sought a Certificate of Lawfulness to confirm that the Planning Permission is still extant and that it is lawful for our client to build out the house that formed part of the original planning permission.

Planning Law – When has a development commenced?

The starting point was to establish if development had in fact commenced. The Town and Country Planning Act 1990, sets out the meaning of ‘development’.

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.

Building operations includes the demolition of buildings, as well as rebuilding, structural work and other operations normally undertaken by a person carrying on business as a builder.

The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 explains that the development of land can be taken as initiated, if the development consists of the carrying out of operations.

In this case, given that demolition works had occurred, and the original planning permission approved the demolition of the existing house, the local planning authority accepted that the permission remains extant.   

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