A 15-year-old planning application for a pub, restaurant and a new hotel on the A16 McDonald’s roundabout in Spalding has been allowed to stand.
A condition of planning permission being granted was that work be carried out on the site within five years, and the current owner of the land has successfully argued that they worked on it the day before the five years were up.
Charnwood Property Trading Ltd, on behalf of Bryony Wilson, Saffia King and Alex Wilson, has been granted a Lawful Development Certificate for the land south east of the A151 Holbeach Road junction.
The original planning application for the site submitted by John H King (Propterties Ltd) in 2004 was passed on August 3, 2005. Permission is conditional on work starting within five years of the application being passed.
But as part of the certificate the applicant argued that work on the access road began on August 2, 2010, the day before the application was due to lapse, meaning the permission should stand.
Application documents submitted claim: “The works were lawful and the site benefits from indefinite planning permission.”
South Holland District Council planning officer Richard Fidler agreed concluding the report into the application by saying: “Given the evidence submitted and in the absence of contrary evidence, it is considered that the applicant, on the balance of probability, has demonstrated that planning permission was lawfully commenced by material operations taking place before the permission expired, therefore it is appropriate to issue a certificate of lawfulness.”
