By Isle of Wight Observer
A bid to secure separate planning recognition for a small residential unit in Freshwater is before the planning department again, after the Isle of Wight Council refused to grant a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use for the building in 2024.
The application concerns a “garden room”, supplied by Lushington Garden Buildings in April 2010, and erected within the grounds of a larger property in Freshwater. In the planning application the owners said it was to be used as an “outdoor leisure room as well as for general garden and household storage”. The approval included a strict planning condition stating it could only be used for purposes incidental to the main house. However, the owners say the building has, in reality, been lived in as a separate home ever since it was constructed and a kitchen and bathroom was installed in “Spring 2010”.
In the first application, refused in March 2024, planning officers concluded the evidence did not demonstrate – on the balance of probability – that the chalet had been occupied as an independent dwelling for more than ten years. They noted that the occupants were all family members, which suggested the building had not formed a separate planning unit. Officers also highlighted the absence of council tax records or a separate postal address.
The owners have now resubmitted their case with additional evidence. Their planning consultant, Paul Stack, argues that the council failed to consider all the evidence previously submitted, and that family occupation does not prevent a building from being used independently. The new submission includes ten statutory declarations from relatives, neighbours and friends, along with invoices, photographs and documentation showing the chalet has its own facilities, boundary fence and parking area.
The consultant claims that the evidence is “precise and unambiguous” and that, with no contradictory evidence from the council or third parties, the use should now be deemed lawful due to the passage of time. He also claims that the council has approved similar applications in the past with less comprehensive evidence.
Comments can be made until February 6 on application 26/00013/CLEUD via iw.observer/planning-portal.
