This user’s guide is intended to help anyone who is thinking of applying for a ‘lawful development certificate’ or who wishes to appeal against the planning authority’s decision on a certificate application.
The system of ‘lawful development certificates’ enables local planning authorities, when the appropriate conditions are satisfied in each case, to grant a certificate saying that:
(1) an existing use of land, or some operational development, or some activity in breach of a planning condition, is lawful; or
(2) a proposed use of buildings or other land, or some operations proposed to be carried out in, on, over or under land, would be lawful.
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