Arb / firewood yard certificate of lawful use

[Philip Anderson]

Hi has anybody had to apply for a certificate of lawful use for their yard ,we have owned a woodland for 15 years now and were given consent to put up a drying shed initially for the timber produced in the woodland ,in fact the barn was built with larch from the thinnings.a new neighbour / lady of the manor has moved in and has been in touch with our local planning enforcement and we are in breach of planning because we transport logs in for splitting from our arb operations .

Has anybody had a similar problem any advice would be welcome.

[hedgesparrow]

Hi has anybody had to apply for a certificate of lawful use for their yard ,we have owned a woodland for 15 years now and were given consent to put up a drying shed initially for the timber produced in the woodland ,in fact the barn was built with larch from the thinnings.a new neighbour / lady of the manor has moved in and has been in touch with our local planning enforcement and we are in breach of planning because we transport logs in for splitting from our arb operations .

Has anybody had a similar problem any advice would be welcome.

 

if you had consent if now you bring timber in as its 15 years can you not ask for retrospective planning as the barn has been here more than 10 years and you had consent to build if it was wood from forest.sounds like lady of manor is wanting to make he mark in the area. is she got anything to do with public life by any chance:questionmark:

[Ollywood]

If the original planning permission specifically states that the use is to process wood from that woodland then you are on a sticky wicket. This said (and this is very left field) a lot of councils are very pro employment and renewables and so if you were to demonstrate that the business is no longer viable without the importing of wood then you might be able to vary the condition. If you want to really wind the new lady up, you could argue that as the building is no longer viable that you need to get a change of use on it to residential for a holiday let property. Whilst a bit tricky, you would certainly wind her up !! The other good one is to mention quietly to someone in the local pub that you have been approached by gypsies who want to buy the woodland and as the business isn't viable you are going to sell to them !! - it will take five minutes for her to hear and she will no doubt change her tune. People are so bloody nosey and can't just get on with their own lives !!! Lastly, watch her Property like a hawk if anything changes, report it, if its an old house with plastic windows check she has planning for them and lastly when she wants a tree moved or pruned politely decline.

[Ollywood]

If you have been in breech of the planning condition for more than 10 years and can prove it you might have a chance. Speak with a planning consultant/land agent or even the local planning authority yourself. They can sometimes be helpful if a livelihood is at stake.

[R5log]

Get a cert of lawfulness if you have been there 15 years openly and no breaks in that time it should be easy.

[Philip Anderson]

If you have been in breech of the planning condition for more than 10 years and can prove it you might have a chance. Speak with a planning consultant/land agent or even the local planning authority yourself. They can sometimes be helpful if a livelihood is at stake.

 

Sorry should have mentioned we have 2 neighbours who will act as witnesses that we have been importing and processing logs for 12 or 13 years I also have pictures of the site at that time with my young children sitting in the old tractor we used for splitting,

I think the lady of the manor has her eyes on our wood to add to her estate/ garden,she does seem to have a direct line to our local authority as despite our and our neighbouring farmers protests some of his land and our woodland was recently included in a conservation area which of course includes her house:thumbdown:

[phily g]

Make her life hell

Had a neighbour sell a field a few years ago opened gate on to our lane and claimed it as the riteof way maybe 80 years ago but it wasn't used in his life time

Laneway goes though the middle of our yard

It was also bought by a nitemare!!!!!!!!!!!

[New Forest DEAN]

You should be able to get a free consultation with a Planning Consultant (specialist who deals with Planning Applications / Planning Law - they are usually ex-senior Planners, not an architect or surveyor). They will be interested in doing the application work for you. Speak to more than one.

 

Give them all the facts - they should be able to give you a good indication of likelihood of success at Planning for a Cert of Lawful Use or full Planning Application (Cert' of Lawful Use is your safest bet initially).

 

If you have been operating in a full manner for some years, then it will definately work in your favour, unless you have a current approval with restrictive description of works or Conditions attached that you are not complying with.

 

If a Cert' of Lawful Use is unsuccessful (i.e you have been operating outside of the previous approval or not for long enough) then you will need a full Planning Application. If what you are doing falls outside of Planning Policy then you will have an uphill battle, for which you are best employing a consultant again. But, as others have said, its not impossible. You can continue to operate whilst any application or appeals are running.

 

- Be very careful if you speak to the Planners yourself. As a civilian you will probably say the wrong thing and hang yourself.

- Always take professional advice.

- Don't use an architect or surveyor for this. It needs a Planning Consultant (typically MRTPI). Speak to more than one.

- Get the Parish Council on your side.

- Get your Local Councilor on your side.

- Don't waste time with petty retributions on the 'Lady' (its not true that they have control over Planners / Conservation areas - its not the 1900's anymore. They may have sway over Parish though...). She will likely have more money to tie you up in some legal bullsh*t, even if its not Planning. Win this battle and carry on trading!

 

Hope this helps.

[tilleytrees]

We looked into buying some woodland and in the research we found out you can erect a barn without permission under pemissive development off the top of my head the shed can be 60 ft by 20ft but it has to be so many meters from the rd. It must be used for the storage of Wood and machinery used in wood land.