Tipton used car dealership must tear buildings down after planning appeal fails
A Sandwell motor company which constructed a used car dealership on vacant land without planning permission has been told it must tear it all down.
Skyman Motors, on Burnt Tree, in Tipton, must now close its business and return the site to its original condition – after losing an appeal against a planning enforcement order.
In October last year, the company asked Sandwell Council for retrospective permission after it had already felled trees, built offices, parking spaces and erected fencing and gates around the site
But the application was refused by councillors as the land was allocated for homes, and because of the poor design of the unapproved buildings, plus highway safety fears.
After learning the company had continued to trade, Sandwell Council issued the enforcement order in February instructing it to demolish the site.
Remedying
A spokesperson for Sandwell Council said it had no option but to make the order, saying: “The council followed up this refusal of planning permission up with an enforcement notice in February 2020 because the car sales business had continued to operate.
"The business subsequently appealed this enforcement notice.”
Rejecting Skyman Motors’ claim that the order went too far, the independent planning inspector said: “It is clear that the requirements to cease the use for a car sales business and to remove the structures and hardstanding cannot be excessive, because they go no further than remedying the breach of planning control.
“Indeed, any lesser requirements would not fully remedy the breach.”
Welcoming his decision the council said: “We are pleased the Planning Inspectorate dismissed the appeal but disappointed we had to go to these lengths.”
The company has six months to carry out the work.
Skyman Motors has been contacted for comment.
