On the deeds for the woodland it says I can erect a 'steam powered sawmill and attendant buildings'. They were dated 1920.
I moved here 3 years ago. Sold my place in Sussex and am living on the proceeds. Money goes a long way with no heating/electric and other household attending bills to pay.
No planning but could post a good argument for staying if needed. I use a logosol sawmill for planks etc, my home is one of the attending buildings.
The farmer knows I'm here,as do the local hunt ( most likely landowners, councillors and other sundry nobs) and have never seen anyone I didn't invite. Still I do keep my fingers crossed
Generator still functioning as normal, even in this biblical rain.
I was raised to go for my dreams. Having raised 3 kids myself, I'm living my dream now before it's too late.
Incase you're wondering, I'll be 59 in March. M
Can say what it likes on the deeds, makes no difference to planning.. Still, you have not hidden it, indeed, you have posted the details on a public forum. only one year left, and you are in the clear!! For gods sake MAKE SURE that when you eventually tell them, or they find out, that the building is your home, and NOT to do with the sawmill, as otherwise you will be knocking it down..
There are different rules for sawmill sheds etc and you would have to show that you were operating the thing since 1960 i think it is to retain it, than there are for a dwelling..
Oh and it is what it is, NOT what you are using it for. so if you put up what is clearly a workshop or barn and live in it, makes no difference, could be there for 20 years, if they then find you are living in it, you will be knocking it down, or at the vey least you will have a stop notice preventing you from doing whatever you are doing in it... Got an idea though that IF the BUILDING ITSELF is permitted, but there is unauthorised use as a dwelling [and not a barn], that they CANNOT issue a stop notice, but not sure what they would do instead though..
In the same way, if you put up what is clearly a dwelling, but say it is a pig unit and fill it with pigs, they will not have that, they will knock it down, so make sure your home is clearly a home and not an engine shed for the saw, do not try to rely on the old deeds, as you will shoot yourself in the foot as they will straight away quote the "attendant buildings" bit of it back to you
I know that if you have animals they HAVE to let you put up a house, BUT, you have to show that it is a viable agricultural unit.. There are set rules for this, my mate had to get 200 pigs as you had to show that it was all intensive enough to require you to spent 2080 [i think it was] hours a year attending to the things/place.whatever..
They had to let him put up a house because of the pigs, but it was tied to the pigs if you see what i mean. Get rid of the pigs, = get rid of the house.. The house though, was a residential caravan. Sure enough after the pigs were gone they issued an enforcement notice to remove it. Now, this caravan, was raised about 2 feet off the ground. My mate had built a wall all around it to stop the wind from blowing under it... He decided that if he sawed off the towbar it would not be a caravan and then the council would not be able to do much, as the enforcement notice referred to a caravan.. I told him this would not work as it would still be a caravan, but with a sawn off towbar..
I came up with the idea of totally filling the area contained within the wall, with concrete. We did this, and when the enforcement lot arrived with their court order thingy, said, "What caravan???" it is a prefabricated building on a concrete base!!! There was precisely nothing they could do. They tried to start again, but the four years were already up, they have four years in which to start, or purport to start enforcement, and they had spent all this time trying to enforce against the wrong thing!! In the end it was such an eyesore they gave him proper planning to remove it and build a proper house. The muppet let this run out though and ended up with nothing.. [having demolished the original in the meantime]
Hope you get it all sorted though!!! I should do the same!!
john..
