Temporary storage structures and temporary warehouses
to hire or buy.

 

Temporary warehouse and temporary storage.

Do as the Romanys do…….
Unless you want to go through the arduous struggle and months and months of waiting to obtain planning permission that is.

Yes, you just need to tell your local council you’re a ‘traveller’, or tell them Cherie Blair’s your lawyer – and they’ll probably run a mile!

However, unless you do this, the bad news is; you do need to obtain planning permission to ‘legitimately’ use one of our temporary buildings…...

But here’s the twist …...As you’ll have probably read in the press over the past couple of weeks, a group of travellers set up camp just 200 metres from the country estate of Tessa Jowell’s husband, even though they did not have planning permission to do so.

And what have the local council done to prevent this? NOTHING! You see, they can’t. Because the travellers know, the council do not have the power of the law to take immediate action, even though planning permission was never even applied for.

And even though you would be (theoretically) breaking the law by going down this route with a temporary building, it’s actually reached a point now, where you’re really left with very little option but to “do as the travellers do” – unless of course, you don’t mind waiting for months and months to get a decision from your local council planning committee….

It’s farcical. Because another twist on the law is the human rights act……..And this is where the likes of Cherie Blair come in…..

You see, the travellers also know they too have human rights, and it seems, the human rights act can work for us all……..As was explained in a recent article which was printed in the Daily Mail:


A spokesman for the council said, "We are examining all the options and considering what appropriate action." But the chances of a swift resolution seemed slim last night. Gipsies in other areas have shown they know how to exploit the law to stay on illegal sites for years.

They can apply for retrospective planning permission and, when that is refused, go into a cycle of appeals and amended applications.

Finally they can exploit the Human Rights Act - brought in by the Labour Government of which Miss Jowell is a part - which says everyone has the right to a private and family life.

At Crays Hill, Essex, the local council has spent £750,000 in legal fees in the seven years since 500 gipsies moved in.


So it’s your call. And even though I’ve written about this on numerous occasions, I thought it a good idea to write to you about this once more because something else we’re finding is; there’s been a big increase in the amount of companies looking to our buildings as a means of increasing capacity recently for three, six and twelve month periods.

I think this is in part due to the worries of a slowing economy and a reluctance to free up capital expenditure for conventional buildings.

As well as which, given you make no commitment to hire our buildings for any period of time, you get total control over how long you have one for, and consequently; what you pay.

You just can’t ever have an arrangement like that with any other warehousing solution, so it’s worth bearing this latest planning fiasco in mind if you do indeed find yourself short of space in the coming months.

Because as you’ll have recognised (reading between the lines), if you’re looking to have a building for anything up to 18 months, it’s frankly hardly worth the hassle and delay of applying for permission because it will take the council much longer than that to serve an enforcement notice on you.

I know it’s not strictly legitimate, or even something to be condoned, but it seems the best course of action is: When in Rome, do as the Romanys do – or get Cherie Blair to act on your behalf and scream HUMAN RIGHTS!!

Fair enough? I hope so……

Regards

 

Antony Hunt

 

PS – To make matters worse, one of my customers told me about a website offering ‘tents’ to be used for warehousing, and the company concerned posted this advice on their website:

NO PLANNING PERMISSION -
Most Planning Authorities permit marquee installation without Planning Permission as long as you take the structure down periodically. We recommend you contact your Local Authority to understand their requirements for your site.

(Perhaps it’s a company run by travellers??)

 

 

 

Antony Hunt - Managing Director
Tel: 01827 330000 Fax: 01827 898600
Email: antony@smart-space.co.uk

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