
Last January Mr Milner of Sputnik Fireworks received a letter threatening enforcement action by West Borsetshire Borough Council (following a complaint that they had received from a concerned neighbour)...
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is wrong to assume that because one Council department has 'approved' or even 'licensed' an activity (and probably taken a significant fee to do so) - that the 'approved' activity is lawful... A licence or permit does not necessarily grant any official permission for the activity to continue [in planning terms at-least]. If you are in any doubt whether planning permission is required [in similar cases to this] we strongly recommend that you take independent professional advice...
A WORD OF WARNING: If you approach the Planning Department for advice on whether an existing use is 'lawful' you risk alerting the Enforcement Department that a potentially unlawful use is actually occurring. By requesting advice from independent professionals [such as the Keith Farmer Associates Planning Team] the same information can be ascertained - but without risking undue Council interest... and thus potentially preventing undesirable enforcement action.
Despite West Borsetshire Bourough Council's Trading Standards approved 'registration' of the business the Planning Department decided that Sputnik were performing an 'unlawful operation' [in planning terms] from their home address... They subsequently contacted Mr Milner and recommended that he should take professional advice and if appropriate to apply for a Certificate of Lawful Use or Development - without which they would shortly be taking decisive enforcement action!!!
Mr Milner instructed Keith Farmer Associates to assist...
At this point it's probably useful to point out that Mr Milner was actually a tenant and not the owner of his home... the landlord currently lives in Australia!
Prior to Mr Milner moving to the property the landlord (Mr Hole) had been running a small, precision engineering business from the property for many years - but had never applied for, or received, any form of planning permission for the workshops and offices that he had built in the garden.
Mr Milner took the property because of the business space and the storage that was available there... If it wasnt for these specific features - they would have sought alternative accomodation elsewhere in the county.
Thankfully, Mr Hole had masses of evidence to prove that the business use of the property had continued uninterupted for well in excess of 10 years and had extensive receipts and information to prove that the buildings were erected in the mid 1990s. This would provide incontravertible evidence that a Certificate should be granted...
...BUT, when Mr Hole was approached about the situation, he made it quite clear that, while he was happy to support any planning application, he did not want to take any responsibility for it [despite the expected result improving the rental and market potential of the property!].
This posed a significant problem for Mr Milner - he didn't want [or need] to improve Mr Hole's situation at his own personal expense...
NOTE: IF Mr Milner was the property owner - we would have advised to proceed with an application for a CLEUD for both the development of the buildings and the 'business use' of the buildings, however;
Mr Milner was a tenant of the property we advised that any expense met by him would ultimately, be outside his long-term financial interest (the landlord could readily serve 2 months notice to quit at any time) therefore an alternative approach to resolving planning issues was advisable;
As the buildings were thus established to be 'lawful' used solely by Mr Milner and his family (all of whom resided at the property) this business was considered 'home working' and therefore no planning consent was required for business to continue...
... However, looking outside of the box and in order to enhance the business and to avoid future complaint, we recommended that Mr Milner should look to end his tenancy and to move to a smaller house - and then, using the £1000 / month saving on rent, he should then relocate the Sputnik Fireworks business to a commercial premises in a more appropriate location - ideally one where substantial passing trade would generate increased interest in the business (thus serving as a marketing boost as well as providing improved Council relations).
Sputnik Fireworks opened up a trade counter to resell fireworks and event equipment and has recently introduced a free to join 'trade club' enabling regular, registered buyers to purchase stock direct from the new premises at trade prices.
Since opening the new premises Mr Milner has not received any complaints from neighbours, has employed two new full-time members of staff and has just filed the company's most profitable year to date... despite the recession and a change of address.
BREAKING NEWS "West Borsetshire Council have just confirmed an order with Sputnik for a professional display providing the finale to a large, public spectacle this Summer!"
PLEASE NOTE: This is a genuine story concerning a genuine case - due to the sensitivity of the situation, circumstances, names and details have been changed to protect the guilty...
(any similarity with any other person, company or organisation is entirely incidental)
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