Sweet & snack shop run from home

Wywth

wendy4 wrote: »

Anyway, you say you've had an enforcement notice. You do need to do something with that ... I'd start by phoning the planning dept and see what they say.

I have contacted the planning office with all the information and got this email = Thank you for the information. I will discuss the situation with my senior officer to determine whether planning permission will be required in this instance. We may require further details from you to assess this. I hope to be in touch soon.

Thank you for your cooperation in resolving this matter.

Regards,
So just have to wait now

Wow! I don't know which particular council you come under, but a response, albeit just a holding one, in less than 4.5hours? :T

I just wish our council were that efficient.

planning_officer

First things first, all you've had is a letter from a planning enforcement officer saying that you may need planning permission for a change of use of the premises. This is not an Enforcement Notice - that's a long way off, if it ever comes to that, which it won't if you answer all the questions posed by the enforcement officer. The original use is as a dwelling (Use Class C3) and what you (may) be doing is operating a mixed use, comprising a dwelling (Class C3) and a retail unit (Use Class A1). If that is the case, it will need planning permission.

That is scenario one. Scenario two is that the property remains as a C3 dwelling, with a very small element of ancillary retail, which would not need planning permission. Personally, I think that is unlikely, as the nature of your retail business is that you depend on people visiting. It's not like a home office where someone might work, with no visitors and no deliveries. In that case, it is unlikely that a change of use has occurred, however in your case I think the enforcement officer will probably conclude that a change of use has occurred.

In order to assess this, the enforcement officer will look at how the character of the property has changed. He will probably be asking you how many visitors you have to the premises, how many rooms you use, whether you employ anyone, how much produce you sell, when you are open, what your turnover is like etc. I have to say, as a former planning enforcement officer, a mixed use including some element of retail is likely to require planning permission, as, like someone else said earlier in this thread, however small the retail element is, it does change the character of the property somewhat, from it's lawful use as a dwelling.

Initially, just provide all the information required by the enforcement officer and he will tell you whether he considers it requires planning permission. If it does, he should give you an indication of whether it is likely to be acceptable if you were to submit a planning application for the change of use. You could indicate to him that you would be prepared to accept conditions on any planning permission, restricting the produce you could sell (cold produce only for example). Whether it is acceptable largely depends on the planning policies your Council has.

wendy4

planning_officer wrote: »

First things first, all you've had is a letter from a planning enforcement officer saying that you may need planning permission for a change of use of the premises. This is not an Enforcement Notice - that's a long way off, if it ever comes to that, which it won't if you answer all the questions posed by the enforcement officer. The original use is as a dwelling (Use Class C3) and what you (may) be doing is operating a mixed use, comprising a dwelling (Class C3) and a retail unit (Use Class A1). If that is the case, it will need planning permission.

That is scenario one. Scenario two is that the property remains as a C3 dwelling, with a very small element of ancillary retail, which would not need planning permission. Personally, I think that is unlikely, as the nature of your retail business is that you depend on people visiting. It's not like a home office where someone might work, with no visitors and no deliveries. In that case, it is unlikely that a change of use has occurred, however in your case I think the enforcement officer will probably conclude that a change of use has occurred.

In order to assess this, the enforcement officer will look at how the character of the property has changed. He will probably be asking you how many visitors you have to the premises, how many rooms you use, whether you employ anyone, how much produce you sell, when you are open, what your turnover is like etc. I have to say, as a former planning enforcement officer, a mixed use including some element of retail is likely to require planning permission, as, like someone else said earlier in this thread, however small the retail element is, it does change the character of the property somewhat, from it's lawful use as a dwelling.

Initially, just provide all the information required by the enforcement officer and he will tell you whether he considers it requires planning permission. If it does, he should give you an indication of whether it is likely to be acceptable if you were to submit a planning application for the change of use. You could indicate to him that you would be prepared to accept conditions on any planning permission, restricting the produce you could sell (cold produce only for example). Whether it is acceptable largely depends on the planning policies your Council has.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply, if they say i need planning permission which is £330 to apply i doubt if i will proceed as with living in a rural area and at a dead end i dont even get passing traffic so take very little money,today is dry but cold so nobody down here at all so would take me a long time to recoup the fee.
As a matter of interest do you think if i changed the spare room back into a bedroom and sold drinks and sweets from a table in the garden that would still need planning ?
I could store my items in the garage.

Mistral001

wendy4 wrote: »

As a matter of interest do you think if i changed the spare room back into a bedroom and sold drinks and sweets from a table in the garden that would still need planning ?
I could store my items in the garage.

A few posters above have actually suggested this. You will in fact be operating a bit like a burger van or street trader. Do you have somewehre for cars to pull off the road to be served by you?

Slinky

I'm not sure how you're currently operating. Are you serving people out of a bedroom window or letting complete strangers come into your home and spare bedroom?

Down the end of a quiet country lane half a mile from the nearest neighbour, it doesn't sound the safest thing to be letting unknown people into your home.

Doubt your home insurance company would be very happy either!

wendy4

Mistral001 wrote: »

A few posters above have actually suggested this. You will in fact be operating a bit like a burger van or street trader. Do you have somewehre for cars to pull off the road to be served by you?

yes there is actually a large layby and there are no houses at all on the opposite side of the road so loads of parking

planning_officer

The fee for a change of use application is actually £385 now (cost went up nationally by 15% in November 2012).

If you just sold a few things to passers by from a table at the end of your garden, I doubt that would constitute a change of use - but it does depend on how much you sell and how many people visit. If it's purely a very low number of passing walkers etc, it's not much different to someone having a display of flowers or home grown veg by their gate with an honesty box - which doesn't constitute a retail use as it's so infrequent.

wendy4

I have recieved an email from planning to say that i now either have to apply for planning or close within 28 days abd that it is unlikly planning will be granted,is there any point in applying or do you think it has no hope as they have said it is unlikly to be granted

wendy4

planning_officer wrote: »

The fee for a change of use application is actually £385 now (cost went up nationally by 15% in November 2012).

If you just sold a few things to passers by from a table at the end of your garden, I doubt that would constitute a change of use - but it does depend on how much you sell and how many people visit. If it's purely a very low number of passing walkers etc, it's not much different to someone having a display of flowers or home grown veg by their gate with an honesty box - which doesn't constitute a retail use as it's so infrequent.

I have recieved an email from planning to say that i now either have to apply for planning or close within 28 days and that it is unlikly planning will be granted,is there any point in applying or do you think it has no hope as they have said it is unlikly to be granted also would they tell me the reasons why they think it would be refused,thank you so much

Savvy_Sue

They should either tell you the reasons why they don't think it would be approved, or point you to the relevant guidelines. When we were going through this at work, mind, finding the relevant bits in the 5 year plan was a bit of a challenge.

We had the option of putting in a pre-application request, I think this cost 10% of the planning application fee and meant that we got some comments on what issues we needed to address in the full application.