Planning permission for the semi-detached Marsh View and its neighbour in Stone Street near Madley west of Hereford was granted in 1969 on condition they would only house someone working in farming and their dependants.
In October, its owner Michael Law applied to Herefordshire Council for a certificate of lawfulness, or CLEUD, confirming that this condition could no longer be made a requirement.
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Under planning law, such conditions can be ruled “immune from enforcement” if they can be shown to have been continuously breached for over ten years.
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Mr Law, a retired fencing contractor, declared in his application that the breach had continued without interruption since 2008, when he bought it, unaware of the agricultural occupancy condition.
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With no evidence having been put forward to contradict Mr Law’s version of events, planning officer Tracey Meachen has accepted that “on balance of probability” they are accurate and has agreed to issue the certificate of lawfulness.
“Although only one piece of evidence has been provided to show his occupation as a fencing contractor, the sworn statement made in front of a solicitor carries some weight, and there is no reason to doubt the declaration made,” she wrote.
A similar certificate of lawfulness was granted a year ago in respect of the neighbouring property, Lyndale.