Our clients were in the process of purchasing a site that they hoped to develop for housing. Following a review of the planning history for the site, it transpired that a previous planning permission, in 2012, for four dwellings may have been implemented although the relevant planning conditions had not been discharged or complied with.
We set out a systematic review and report to the Council, as part of a Certificate of Lawful Development application which illustrated that a material start on site had occurred and that the relevant conditions did not go to the heart of the permission meaning that not only had a lawful start had occurred but the permission, for the erection of four dwellings, could be completed following a submission of a discharge of condition application to the Council.
The benefit of this route meant that there was a good fallback position, as well as negotiating position, for our client should any new planning application be submitted for an alternative design as the key principles and details, such as access, the principle of use, and any planning contributions were set.
This helped reduce the risk of the development and encouraged our clients to go straight to a full planning application rather than submitting an outline planning application first.
