Planning Permission Required? - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)
Planning Permission Required?
Hello All,
I was wondering if anyone could provide guidance on an issue I’m facing about a car park in one of the parks I manage. Within this park I have two car parks. On a previous application one of the car parks was shown as an overflow car park. I have been told that if I was to now use this car park as the main car park planning permission is required. I will not be doing any ground works etc. as the car park was developed at the time. I was just wondering why planning permission was required.
Many thanks,
Jenny
Hi Andrea,
Yes it's already in existance as a second car park, but on previous plans it was identified as an overflow car park. It is for this reason that I have been told that I need to get a new permission to use it as our main car park.
thanks,
Jenny
Hi ...This is not a striaght forward issue. A car park is a use of land .There are two scenarios. Scenario 1 the 'overflow' car park is shown on an approved plan as such, but there is no condition on the planning approval that limits its use to 'an overflow' car park. In this instance the LPA is wrong to say that you need to apply for planning permission. Unless there is a specific condition that restricts the use to an overflow car park then the answer is you can use it as a car park as and when you like. The case law for this is 'I'm your Man v N Somerset 1998' where the courts established that control cannot be inferred by either a description of a plan. If the LPA refuse to concede this point then good luck to them in trying to enforce. The second scenario is that there is a condition that restricts its use to when the other car park is full. There would have to be a good reason for that condition and if you felt that it wasn't necessary or reasonable now, or better still it was unenforceable then you could apply to vary or remove the condition.That would be the correct way forward. So the two scenarios are there , read what the decision notice says and decided which way you intend to go and good luck.