DEC Officer Report

PLANNING OFFICER REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Application No.: 23/00305/LAW Applicant: Mr James Turpin Proposal: Certificate of lawful development for the demolition of a rear wall Site Address: 5 Laureston Terrace Douglas Isle Of Man IM2 5DH Principal Planner: Mr Chris Balmer Expected Decision Level: Officer Delegation Recommended Decision: Certificate of Lawful Use/Devel Approved Date of Recommendation: 31.03.2023

Conditions and Notes for Approval

C : Conditions for approval N : Notes attached to conditions

C 1. On the balance of probabilities there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the rear wall and referred to in the information received on 09.03.2023 was demolished for a period exceeding four years (prior to 2019) and as such, the Department may not issue an enforcement notice due to the provisions of Town and Country Planning Act 1999 Schedule 4 Part 1 paragraph 3(a).

Plans/Drawings/Information; This decision relates to the location and site plans and photographs and other supporting information all received on 09.03.2023. _______________________________________________________________ Interested Person Status – Additional Persons N/A _____________________________________________________________________________

- 1.0 INTRODUCTION

Officer’s Report

1.1 The application seeks a Certificate of lawful development for the demolition of a rear wall. The application seeking the Certificate of Lawfulness was submitted on 09.03.2023. This means the relevant 4 years for consideration is from 09.03.2019. - 1.2 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.

1.3 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. - 1.4 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. - 1.5 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 Authority to corroborate the applicant's evidence.

2.0 THE APPLICATION SITE - 2.1 The application site is the curtilage of 5 Laureston Terrace, Douglas which is a Victorian terraced property located on the eastern side of Ballaquayle Road.

3.0 THE PROPOSAL - 3.1 The planning application seeks approval for the Certificate of Lawful Development for for the demolition of a rear wall.

4.0 PLANNING HISTORY - 4.1 There are no previous planning applications which are considered relevant in the assessment and determination of this application.

5.0 REPRESENTATIONS - 5.1 No comments received at the time of writing this report.

6.0 ASSESSMENT / SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE PROVIDED - 6.1 In terms of whether the rear wall has been demolished for more than 4 years from the date of submission the Department considers that it has. Tthe evidence supplied by the applicants, while not substantial in size, does suggest that the rear wall has not been in place for a number of decades and certainly more than 4 years. The information includes:

• o A letter from previous owner confirming their father had demolished the wall in the 1990's

• o Aerial photograph from 2006 (further Government Aerial photographs demonstrate the wall was demolished before this date);
• o Photographs showing the area in question today, albeit the weathering of the concrete floor and walls is clearly many years old ;

6.2 The rear wall has clearly been demolished since 2019 when the aerial photography was undertaken.

7.0 CONCLUSION - 7.1 On the balance of probabilities, the evidence sufficiently demonstrates that the rear wall was demolished more than 4 years ago and as such, the Department may not issue an enforcement notice due to the provisions of Town and Country Planning Act 1999 Schedule 4 Part 1 paragraph 3(a) and it is recommended that a Certificate of Lawful Development is granted.

8.0 RECOMMENDATION - 8.1 It is recommended that the application for a Certificate of Lawfulness is agreed.

9.0 INTERESTED PARTY STATUS - 9.1 As the application is for a CLU this is not required to be assessed _____________________________________________________________________

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: 03.04.2023 Determining officer Signed : J SINGLETON Jason Singleton Principal Planner

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