The construction of outbuildings at houses is usually permitted development under Class E of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 (as amended).
However, councils dislike larger outbuildings and often tries to argue that they are not ‘reasonably required’ and refuses to issue a certificate of lawfulness for that reason. We wrote about this issue here.
In this case, we prepared a detailed submission showing exactly how our client’s (larger) outbuilding would be laid out and used. We submitted drawings showing how each part of the outbuilding was required for the proposed uses.
It was important for the client to be able to build it under his permitted development rights because he is in the Green Belt and it would be difficult to get full planning permission for a new outbuilding.
We quoted the relevant case law, including Emin v. Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions [2001] EWCA Civ 144, in which it was determined that the size of an outbuilding is not the determining factor in these assessments:
The fact that such a building had to be required for a purpose associated with the enjoyment of a dwellinghouse could not rest solely on the unrestrained whim of him who dwelt there but connoted some sense of reasonableness in all the circumstances of the particular case
Sir Graham Eyre QC
We were delighted when the council agreed with our arguments and issued the certificate of lawfulness.
