FORMER farm buildings in rural Thurrock can continue to be used for businesses after operating for more than ten years without planning permission.

Red House Farm, Lower Dunton Road, Bulphan had planning permission for use as a single business only.

At the time of the 2008 approval the green belt site was used by Victorian Woodworks which occupied six buildings on the site.

In an application submitted in January this year John S Dunne Ltd of Fairwinds Farm, Bulphan, a request was made for a certificate of lawfulness, allowing the multiple use of the site.

Officers have investigated and, nine months on, have delivered a delegated decision approving its issue.

The council said evidence provided by the applicant was "clear and unequivocal" in that the site was originally occupied – following the decline in the poultry business – by Victorian Woodworking who were granted retrospective planning permission in 2008.

The company closed in 2012 after which the evidence shows the buildings were sub-divided internally and letting of the new units began in 2013. Business rates have been paid since that date to the borough council and the units have been occupied apart from short terms when units changed hands, continually for more than ten years

From April 25, 2024, works completed without planning permission are immune from enforcement if they have been in place and continuously used for ten years, up from the previous four-year limit.

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A report by planning officers said: "All of the breaks occurred at different times and there is no evidence to suggest that the use of any of the units had been abandoned/broken for longer than a short marketing period.

"This evidence is supported by statements from three of the current occupiers on the site.

"The council does not have any evidence that contradicts the case advanced by the applicant and nothing has come to light that casts any doubt on the applicant's case.

"Accordingly, it is considered that, on the balance of probabilities, it has been demonstrated the use of the site by multiple occupiers has occurred continuously for at least the last ten years and as such it is recommended that a certificate of lawfulness be issued."