A HOMEOWNER has hired a crane to prove he has broken no planning laws after being forced to remove his shed - following one complaint. Steve Holden, of Hastings, East Sussex, has been fighting to keep his shed for the past year after being ordered to remove it by the council's planning department. He uses the shed as an electronic workshop but claimed the council refused his retrospective planning application, leading to an enforcement notice ordering him to remove his shed.
When a change is made to a property that requires planning permission a local authority can request the owner/occupier make a retrospective planning application for the completed work. The process will be treated the same as any other - however, the local authority can issue an enforcement notice which requires the owner/occupier to put things back as they were. Steve decided to find another way.
He told Sussex World : "It hasn’t been cheap hiring a crane but I wanted to prove a point.” Steve argued that his shed is not a permanent structure and the Caravans Act 1960 proves his shed qualifies as a caravan because it is a transportable singe frame structure. The Act defines caravan as “any structure designed or adapted for human habitation which is capable of being moved from one place to another (whether by being towed, or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer) and any motor vehicle so designed or adapted”.
By hiring a crane to lift his shed, Steve proved it can be transported in one .
