This planning application was originally validated by Liverpool City Council on the 1st August and refused on the 3rd December for a Lawful Development Certificate to legalise the Change of Use of a small HMO in an area that an Article 4 direction was subsequently introduced.
This planning appeal was classed as a Lawful Development Use appeal and was not restricted by time scales to appeal.
Due to the nature of the refusal and without the permission the client would be in breach of planning control and the local authority would move to enforcement action should the client not have appealed.
The refusal reasons given by Liverpool City Council were that The Local Planning Authority consider that the proposed Lawful Development Certificate to legalise the Change of Use of a small HMO was not lawful and liable to enforcement action under section 172 of the 1990 Act.
The decision notice went on to detail technicalities as to why this application was not lawful.
This refusal is a classic local authority refusal for this type of application where they simply are not in favour of this use.
If the client had not appealed promptly an enforcement notice would have been issued and the client instructed to stop the use. We know this because Liverpool City Council Planning Enforcement team were already in correspondence and collating the information needed to serve an Enforcement Notice.
Obviously our client could have appealed any enforcement notice issued but it is better not incur the additional costs associated with enforcement appeals.
We notified Liverpool City Council that an appeal was in process and shared our documents with them and they agreed to set aside any action awaiting the appeal outcome.
For this appeal we produced a 12 page detailed appeal statement, working our way through the decision notice, detailing the evidence, details about other related cases that were similar and legal argument.
We went into great detail detailing and explaining why the evidence provided reached the balance of probability, to grant the permission.
Many Lawful Development Certificate / Use applications and appeals fail due to lack of detail, it is vitally important that this is covered in the correct manor within the planning or appeal statement and with supporting documents such as statutory declarations, the importance of this cannot be understated. Simply attaching a few documents is unlikely to meet the balance of probability alone but if the appeal statement is completed to the highest standard then the detail will be covered.
This case like the vast majority of similar cases, was dealt with by way of Written Representation, and as such it is paramount that the argument and evidence is very comprehensive and robust as there is no second chance to respond.
The inspector visited the appeal site on 18th March and issued the appeal decision on 28th March in a four page appeal decision report.
The good news was that the appeal was upheld and the Lawful Development Certificate granted.
Our approach for producing appeal documents that go into great detail, collating all relevant evidence with supporting declarations and to supply supporting cases where the inspectorate has granted similar appeals is invaluable.
This gives the client their best chance of success, admittedly it does take longer to produce, and increases costs slightly by going into that level of detail, but it is that attention to detail that is absolutely paramount.
As an organisation HEAL Planning is one of the leading appeals specialists with both dedicated in-house planning and legal teams, whose job it is to win your case, both these skill sets are invaluable to produce a robust and compelling case to gain a win.
You won’t find many organisations in our industry that have both of these skill sets a planning and a legal team, and it is most definitely a major reason why we have the success rate we do.
Without appealing your Planning refusal you cannot gain the permission you would like!
Your appeal will go to The Planning Inspectorate, they are a government-based organisation that is appointed by the Secretary of State to handle all types of planning appeals, based out of Bristol and covering England and Wales the Planning Inspectorate gives you a chance of success to gain that permission you are seeking, and taking the decision process away from your local authority’s planning officer.
If you would like a free no obligation consultation with myself or a member of our team please call us on 01743 762220
HMO Planning Appeal Article 4 Area Lawful Development Certificate Liverpool City Council Case Study
If you would like a free no obligation consultation with a member of our team please call us on 01743 369911
