Owners prove occupants of March bungalow had no farming link

Fenland District Council has accepted that Horsemoor Bungalow, on Coleseed Road, in March, has been occupied continuously by people with no link to farming since at least June 2002, despite a planning condition limiting it to those “employed locally in agriculture or in forestry and the dependants of such persons”.

The original condition was imposed when planning permission was granted in 1967 for a dwelling within an agricultural holding in the open countryside.

In 2012, the owners applied for a Certificate of Lawful Use to confirm that the property had been occupied in breach of the agricultural occupancy clause for long enough that enforcement action was no longer possible.

That first bid was refused because the council was not convinced the evidence was “robust”, but a subsequent application by Rosemary Humphrey, of Elwyn Road, March, backed by more detailed paperwork, has now been approved.

Two statutory declarations were submitted. The first was from a former occupier, stating they lived at the address from June 1 2002, to February 28 2006 and had never been employed in agriculture.

The second was from the current occupiers, confirming they have lived there since February 2006 with no connection to farming.

A planning officer's report said rental agreements and council tax records supplied with the application broadly matched those dates, persuading planning officers that there had been an unbroken breach of the condition for more than 20 years.

Under planning law, if a dwelling is lived in continuously in breach of an occupancy condition for over 10 years, and the council takes no action, that use can become lawful and the condition can no longer be enforced.

In this case, officers concluded there had been a “continuous breach in the agricultural occupancy condition in excess of 10 years," and recommended that a Certificate of Lawful Use be issued for occupation of the bungalow without complying with the agricultural tie.

The application for the lawful use certificate was made by owner Rosemary Humphrey and others, with rural property firm Brown & Co acting as agents.

March Town Council recommended approval, and no objections were received from neighbours or other interested parties.

With the certificate now in place, the agricultural occupancy restriction on Horsemoor Bungalow is effectively neutralised, paving the way for a separate application to formally vary or remove the original condition.