Broadway Farm Appeal

This appeal related to an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness for an Existing Use or Development submitted to EBC on 25 April 2023 (ref. LDC/23/95111). The site relates to Broadway Farm which lies to the west of the village of Botley to the north of ‘Broad Oak’ (A334) which is the main route into the village from the west.

The appeal has been dismissed as per the appeal decision letter dated 7 May 2024.

 

Application proposal details

​The application proposal was in respect of the following:

“Building operation by the laying of sub-base hardcore (type one crushed concrete) with concrete based cellular ‘grasscrete’ as illustrated on Plans 1 and 2 attached, together with the parking of motorised vehicles to include heavy vehicles and trailers in accordance with an Operator’s Licence dated 28 June 2010, and subsequent renewals which remains ongoing and evidenced in Affidavits.

The application was refused by the Council’s Head of Legal Services on the 29 August 2023 for the following reasons:

  1. The Council was not satisfied that the use described in the First Schedule at the land described in the Second Schedule was lawful due to insufficient evidence that the land had been used for the parking of motorised vehicles, including heavy vehicles and trailers, for a period in excess of 10 years as of 24 April 2023 being the date of this application.
  2. The Council considered that the subsequent building operation of the laying of Tarmacadam at the land described in the Second Schedule constituted new engineering works which commenced a new chapter in the planning history for the application site. As such, the Council could not issue a Certificate for the engineering works described in the First Schedule.

The appeal was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate by the appellant on 13 October 2023 against the Council’s refusal to grant the certificate of lawfulness

The appeal was in the form of a public inquiry, held at EBC offices at 10am from 12 March.

Core documents List Land at Broadway Farm Appeal

Closing statements for the appeal were heard by the Inspector remotely on Wednesday 3 April 2024 at 2pm.