Established use/retention protected structure
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Hi everyone,
My first question here, we undertook a serious restoration of a Victorian City centre property 15 years ago. The property had planning for office use and was leased as offices, however there as the tenants business developed .. the use changed to 75% retail and 25% office…
Where do we stand with planning now? the unit has been in mainly retail use for last 10 years…as stated before we have restored this building long before conservation guidelines were in vogue..and would prefer to keep the retail use and the building in use rather than another vacant office building..the building has been restored and nothing has been done to alter character of the building..
Any suggestions on the best route to take here? does the scenario come under established use and would we need to apply for retention?
Thanks for any advice
To get satisfactory answers to your questions, the first thing you should do is try and get hold of a copy of all the planning permission documents.
You then need to engage a planning consultant.
There are way too many unknowns, such as the exact wording of the permission you mentioned, the planning conditions, the conservation status, planning history etc. to get a satisfactory answer here.If you’ve been using it as retail for 7 years or more, then even if it is unauthorised, the local authority has lost the right to prevent the new usage under the Statute of Limitations.
Do engage a Planning Consultant to see the exact contours of the implications.
Many thanks Bob and Tayto for your this.
I appreciate your thoughts on the matter.
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