Certificate of lawfulness confirms lawful start made on workshop & showroom before expiry of consent

We were delighted to pass a certificate of lawfulness to our client today that confirmed that an older consent that they had been granted has been lawfully implemented before its expiry in 2020. They had been granted permission in 2015 to build a new workshop, with showroom and other facilities, for their business which is based in rural Conwy. However, as is the case with all permissions its life span was limited, in this case to 5 years. They have taken steps to start the development, and this was before its expiry, but they had not completed the building as it was not needed at that time.

After an initial review of the matter we advised that they had a good case, and helped draw up evidence to support their case and ensure that a robust submission was made. After a short period of consideration the Local Authority issued their decision this week and confirmed that a lawful start was indeed made. This means that the consent has been safeguarded and can be picked up again in the future.

We are pleased that we have been able to protect the effort put in to obtain the consent in the first place, and our clients ability to expand their business without having to apply for a new permission.

We are always happy to advise on all matters related to historic permissions, lawfulness issues, and similar work.