Hello. I'd appreciate some opinions on a case I'm currently dealing with. We received complaints about a number of banger cars being stored on the driveway of a residential property in our area. The house concerned is in an estate location, surrounded by numerous houses. Given that there were 7 cars / car bodies stored on site and the house owner failed to remove them, we eventually issued an enforcement notice requiring removal of all the vehicles. We decided to ask for them all to be removed for two reasons - firstly to retain control over any banger cars left on site once the time for compliance had passed, but also in case of an appeal, we would be in a better bargaining position. The notice wasn't appealed, and all but one car has been removed. We have always taken the view that one car on a driveway is acceptable as this doesn't in itself amount to a material change of use. We have therefore decided to take no further action although technically the notice hasn't been fully complied with. The complainants are very unhappy about this and are intending to take the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman. We don't think it would be expedient to prosecute / take direct action in the circumstances. Would you agree that one stock car on the driveway for hobby purposes doesn't amount to a material change of use? Is anyone aware of any relevant appeal decisions. Thanks for your help.
