PROJECTS
Sugarbrook Nurseries
A client purchased a Sugarbrook Nurseries with a tenant in residence in a static caravan, and using permanent buildings and a touring caravan for domestic purposes.
The wider site had a history of enforcement investigations, and the Council was aware of the tenant. Over time the caravan deteriorated and the owner wondered if it could be replaced.
Stansgate started by preparing a statutory declaration for the owner, and guided various others with knowledge of the site to provide written statements. Together these formed the basis of an application a lawful development certificate which successfully confirmed the lawful residential occupation of the caravan, with the associated buildings and an adjacent parcel of land, for more than 10 years. A Certificate was duly issued by the Council.
In a second application Stansgate argued that the existing caravan, together with the associated buildings, could be replaced with a new, much larger, log cabin, with a floorspace of 136sqm. The Council raised a number of difficulties regarding the proposed log cabin, however, with negotiations, written statements from the manufacturer, and photographs showing a typical installation using a crane, accepted it accorded with the legal definition of a caravan and thus a Certificate was issued.