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There is an agricultural building next to us that has hardly been used for over 20 years. It is privately owned and the owner very rarely visits it. He has only used it to keep junk in, dump rubble from work he is doing at home and has used the adjoining land for riding motorbikes on or an old car. In 20 years there has been no business activity there at all.
He has now been granted Prior Approval for conversion for a dwelling under Class PA development.
We strongly objected, mainly on the basis that information on the planning statement was false or misleading. A number of local residents did likewise and The Parish Council requested that The Council make a full investigation in view of the objections raised. I have complained to The Council but can't get past 'The Council are satisfied that the evidence demonstrates that the building which was the subject of the application was in light industrial use on the 19 March 2014'.
The building is in full view of our property and we know that the claim that the owner has been running a business with a team of people is completely untrue. It is an offence to make false or misleading claims on a planning statement but we have just been unable thus far to convince the Council that this may be a possibility. This is really frustrating as The Council are refusing to let us see, the evidence he has submitted on data protection grounds. We consider that the volume of claims of false/or misleading information from other local residents together with the fact that we were asked to allow him to say he has been using our toilet (when he hadn't) should be enough to convince the council that deeper investigation should have been carried out. This building has no power, water, sanitation, staff amenities, hard floor, solid walls with no control over temperature, humidity, ventilation or light and would have been totally unsuitable for the claimed use over a period of 10 years. It also has very little security. I think it would be really easy to prove that it hadn't been used for such a business over 10 years but which vehicle do I use if The Council won't consider the possibility of an unlawful application?
Thanks
He has now been granted Prior Approval for conversion for a dwelling under Class PA development.
We strongly objected, mainly on the basis that information on the planning statement was false or misleading. A number of local residents did likewise and The Parish Council requested that The Council make a full investigation in view of the objections raised. I have complained to The Council but can't get past 'The Council are satisfied that the evidence demonstrates that the building which was the subject of the application was in light industrial use on the 19 March 2014'.
The building is in full view of our property and we know that the claim that the owner has been running a business with a team of people is completely untrue. It is an offence to make false or misleading claims on a planning statement but we have just been unable thus far to convince the Council that this may be a possibility. This is really frustrating as The Council are refusing to let us see, the evidence he has submitted on data protection grounds. We consider that the volume of claims of false/or misleading information from other local residents together with the fact that we were asked to allow him to say he has been using our toilet (when he hadn't) should be enough to convince the council that deeper investigation should have been carried out. This building has no power, water, sanitation, staff amenities, hard floor, solid walls with no control over temperature, humidity, ventilation or light and would have been totally unsuitable for the claimed use over a period of 10 years. It also has very little security. I think it would be really easy to prove that it hadn't been used for such a business over 10 years but which vehicle do I use if The Council won't consider the possibility of an unlawful application?
Thanks
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