A significant win for Hayston Development & Planning Ltd where, due to the robust case we presented, costs were awarded and half the appeal had been won before the hearing was even held, Our client entered into a ten year lease on a commercial property in New Quay and opened up a Pizza Takeaway business in August 2015

In February 2015 our client received an Enforcement Notice based on non-compliance with two planning conditions. The original planning permission restricted take-aways being sold and operational hours to 21.00hrs. Although the enforcement notice failed to directly specific what planning or material harm had been caused (another issue raised) linking the notice to the referenced planning permission it was on the basis of noise and Highways safety.

Hayston undertook a detailed review of commercial operations in New Quay and through clever presentation clearly demonstrated that the planning conditions imposed on the site were ‘inconsistent’ and ‘unreasonable’ to the rest of New Quay and that no harm could be demonstrated. Following the issue of our 6 week statement Ceredigion County Council withdraw it’s enforcement action on the hours of operation and accepted it was unreasonable to have restricted these. In addition to the commercial analysis, a full review and presentation of information was provided on the traffic management controls in place, the fallback position of its commercial use (i.e. A1 retail use), freedom of information data on incidents and the practical reality of balancing the unique challenges that all coastal tourist present (economic vitality, traffic management control, tourism etc).

Failure to win this appeal would have meant our client would have had to close down his business within a week and would have been left with a further 9 years on his lease for a commercial property that was of no use to him. A very good win indeed !!