Planning inspector upholds enforcement notice over concealed building

A planning inspector has upheld an enforcement notice issued four years ago by Monmouthshire County Council because he found the offending building was deliberately concealed.

Inspector Melissa Hall decided in her ruling that the unauthorised conversion of a barn to a home by Mike Meredith had deceived Monmouthshire and he was consequently not entitled to rely on the enforcement time limit on notices in section 171B(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

She also rejected Mr Meredith’s claim that the enforcement notice was void due to errors.

The enforcement notice concerned alleged breaches of planning control and required Mr Meredith to stop using part of the building as his home, remove any interior walls, floors, ceilings that were built as part of the residential conversion together with bathrooms, kitchen and domestic fittings.

Ms Hall said: “The matter at issue is whether there was positive deception by other means rather than this simply being a case of the appellant refraining from drawing attention to himself.”

Monmouthshire’s case included Mr Meredith admitting he untruthfully told a council officer that a dilapidated motorhome outside the barn was his main residence, and that he sent the council a letter stating “there is no dwelling on the [small]holding”.

Ms Hall said: “These statements were simply not true at the time they were made if the appellant was already living in the dwelling, as he now claims.”

She concluded: “In my opinion, the repeated and false statements made between 2010 and 2014 regarding the presence, or not, of a dwelling on site were intended to deceive"

Although Ms Hall found there was an error in the explanatory note issued as the wrong compliance period is specified but since this was not in the notice itself a reasonable reader would understand the compliance period to be that specified in the notice.

She did though grant Mr Meredith a longer period in which to comply with the notice.

Robin Green of Cornerstone Barristers appeared for Monmouthshire.

Earlier this month Magistrates told Stratford-on-Avon District Council that it could take enforcement action against a couple who disguised their house as a garage.

Mark Smulian