Location

Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire

About

In 2013 our client bought the cottage and outbuildings with a view to demolishing everything and building a new home.  Unfortunately, the site is in the Green Belt and the Council’s policy strictly prevented creating new homes in this location.  The Council refused to accept that the derelict cottage was still capable in planning terms of being treated as a dwelling and therefore refused the application.

We advised the client to remove all of the undergrowth that covered the remains of the cottage so we could show the full extent of what remained.  The cottage had been rented by a family who made use of the outbuildings but had been unable to repair it when it had become damaged some 40 years earlier. 

Working closely with a Planning Barrister we were able to put together a sufficiently robust argument, backed up by legal arguments, to give the Council’s Planning Solicitor the confidence to agree with our contention that the dwelling, despite its derelict appearance, remained a dwelling for planning purposes and so should be taken into account when applying to replace it with a new building.